Hakatai at the Zoo

Hakatai’s glass mosaic mural program was used by the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak, Michigan, to help celebrate its award-winning “Arctic Ring of Life” habitat, named one of the top zoo exhibits in the United States by The Intrepid Traveler’s guide to “America’s Best Zoos.” Hakatai supplied a glass mosaic mural in the precise likeness of the Zoo’s Arctic Ring of Life logo, polar bear included, which was installed in the Arctic food court adjacent to the exhibit.

Krieger Associates, a full service architecture and design firm, recommended Hakatai and its glass mosaic mural program to Robert Harris, general manager of Service Systems Associates, the food service contractor for the Detroit Zoo. Harris submitted an electronic copy of the logo to Hakatai’s team of experienced designers and mosaic artists, who were able to reproduce a stunning simulation including the various textures, colors and exact details of the logo. The simple-cut, 4’ x 6.5’ mural was delivered in numbered sheets for a quick and easy installation.

“It’s been a great experience working with Hakatai,” Harris said. “The customer service was exceptional, especially when we needed support during the installation. The project was completed on time and priced as promised.”

Detroit Zoo’s Arctic Ring of Life is a $14.9 million interactive facility encompassing over four acres of indoor and outdoor exhibits. The most spectacular feature of the habitat is the 70-foot long Frederick and Barbara Erb Polar Passage. This clear tunnel winds through a vast underwater environment where guests will encounter diving and swimming polar bears and seals. The Detroit Zoo has been a leader in the exhibition and breeding of polar bears since the opening of its first polar bear exhibit in 1928 and the Arctic Ring of Life is now the largest polar bear exhibit in North America. Visit the website of the Detroit Zoo to find out more.

Middle School Mosaic Art

We recently received these photos of fantastic mosaic work by the students at Islander Middle School in Mercer Island, WA. The students created over 96 square feet of mosaic work, using Hakatai glass tile and other products, which have been installed at the school.

Thank you to artist-in-residence Sandy Glass for these wonderful photos!

Panda Express Builds Brand with Hakatai Mosaic Mural

Hakatai recently began supplying custom glass mosaic murals to Panda Express, the fastest growing Chinese restaurant chain in North America. Hakatai’s first brand-building mural, at the restaurant’s original location in Rosemead, California, is an impressive 490 square feet in size. The mural covers the entire top half of two entrance walls, connecting at the front exterior corner to create a welcoming panda image.

While exhibiting at a hospitality design show in 2008, Hakatai met top brand developers from the Panda Restaurant Group and a plan was developed for a series of glass mosaic murals at several Panda Express locations. Utilizing Hakatai’s innovative custom mosaic mural program, the designers at Panda Express are able to submit a drawing to Hakatai’s in-house design team, who fine tune the mural design before passing it along to their skilled team of mosaic artists. At the Rosemead location, the colors A20 China, C39 Night Black and D41 Lava, from Hakatai’s top-selling Classic series, were used to create the stunning black and white panda, accented by a deep red background. The mural stands nearly 14 feet from top to bottom on both walls. The mural measures 16 wide on the left side and 18 feet wide on the right. The mural was delivered to the restaurant site mounted on numbered mesh-backed sheets and ready to install. The mural was installed over a cement masonry unit.

Panda Restaurant Group is a leading Asian foodservice provider, and one of the largest family-owned businesses in North America. The well-known brand includes Panda Express, five Panda Inn locations serving gourmet Mandarin and Szechuan cuisine in a more upscale environment, and 28 quick service, Japanese-style Hibachi-San locations. The panda mural from Hakatai has proven to be highly successful for the chain, and several more custom murals in varying sizes are in progress for other Panda Express locations, including the Fox Hills Mall in Southern California, the Fashion Show Mall in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the Orlando International Airport in Florida.

Read more about this mural on Hanley Wood's ebuild blog.

Ready to Display Mosaic Murals

Hakatai’s experienced team of designers and mosaic artists can turn any photo or original drawing into a custom created and ready to display mosaic mural! Ready to display murals arrive mounted and framed in a neutral metal frame. They require no tile installation, and are ready for display. Murals are custom created and signed by the artists. Finished murals are coated in a glossy, protective epoxy coating.

Ready to display murals are an ideal way to turn a favorite photo into an enduring piece of art. Hundreds of shades of colors are available to the mosaicists, which allows for beautiful simulations of the varying colors, textures and detailed shadings in the original image.

Hakatai Mural Used in Michigan Residence

Inspired by the bright colors of a peacock’s feather, Ann Rosinski-Long of Genesee Ceramic Tile Distributors in Grand Rapids, Michigan, used Hakatai's Custom Mosaic Mural Program to turn an idea into a beautiful glass mosaic mural for a client’s home. After selecting a palette of iridescent glass mosaics, Rosinski-Long worked with designer Laura Haas of Laura & Co. to draw an image, which Hakatai’s experienced team of mosaic artists then translated into a hand-aligned, custom made mosaic mural. The mural was incorporated into the flooring at the base of a staircase to create a unique focal point for the lower-level walkout of the home.

“We loved the iridescent colors that Hakatai offers,” said Rosinski-Long. “We really played off of that in the design phase. One of our design clients at Genesee Ceramic Tile had a customer that wanted a mural of a peacock. So the designer and I sat down, drew the design, filled in all of the colors and sent it off to Hakatai. They did a rendering to match up all the colors, which we approved, and then sent it back. When we received the actual mural, Hakatai also included a package of mosaic glass tiles in case we needed to replace something. We were both very impressed with that. The customer service was awesome. Hakatai was very easy to work with. I actually did another mural in Michigan with Hakatai afterwards, and it came out very nice, too.”