Our team

Our school comprises a small team of management staff, supported by educators, mosaicists and artists. Our board of trustees, which oversees the development of the business, are part of our wider team, along with our governing body which focuses on the quality of our higher education programme and operations.

Dr Silvie Jacobi, Director

Silvie has a background in Fine Art and Geography. She has recently completed a PhD at King's College London on the topic of art schools and their relationship with place. Silvie has been collaborating with London School of Mosaic since 2007 when it was known as Southbank Mosaics, working on commission, teaching mosaic short courses and fundraising. She has developed our award winning diploma course and has overseen the running of our education programmes as Head of Education until she became the Director of the school in 2021.

Ana Milenkovic, Operations Manager

Ana’s background is in fine art and project management. Since graduating from University of the Arts London, she has been running creative studios and managing art projects for the leading contemporary artists. As a practicing artist with experience in mosaic, Ana has in-depth understanding of the creative process and knowledge of fine art networks, essential for ensuring smooth and efficient running of our studios and activities.

Jenny Carvalho, Studio Coordinator

Jenny studied Architecture at Westminster University, and worked as an apprentice for us over 2021-2022. She was awarded a scholarship in our Diploma in Mosaic Studies, and since graduating has taken on a role as our Studio Coordinator. She brings creativity, a keen eye for organisation and some good humour to our lively workshop.

Joe Moss, Creative Producer

Joe is an artist living in London who includes mosaic in his practice as well as video, sculpture and digital art (see his website). Alongside making and exhibiting physical work, his practice includes a breadth of educational and facilitatory activities. After volunteering in 2019, Joe joined our core team in 2020, teaching and making mosaic, producing our social media content as well as overseeing improvements to our workshop. In his current role, Joe oversees commissions and creative projects.

Giulia Vogrig, Lecturer in Mosaic Practice

Giulia is an experienced Master Mosaicist who joined our team in July 2018 to teach on our Diploma in Mosaic Studies. Since Ieaving the renowned Mosaic School in Spilimbergo, Italy in 2006 she has been working mostly in the UK and Italy on numerous international mosaic projects, including collaborations with London-based mosaicist Gary Drostle. She recently led various classical mosaic-making workshops at King's College London alongside Dr. Will Wootton of the Classics Department.

Dr Will Wootton, Lecturer in History of Mosaic

Will is a lecturer in Roman Art at King’s College London. He chairs our Governing Body and teaches on our History of Mosaic as part of our Diploma in Mosaic Studies. As a classical archaeologist whose research focuses on craft production in antiquity, he is interested in the intersections between materials and techniques, craftsmen and patrons, and the impact of time, place and society on things made. Will has worked extensively on the making of mosaics from the Hellenistic period into Late Antiquity publishing in journals, books and conference proceedings.

David Tootill, Co-Founder/Development

David founded Southbank Mosaics in 2004 and transformed it into London School of Mosaic in 2017. He is a self-trained mosaic artist, and holds a degree in Modern History. His enthusiasm for mosaic comes from his mission to enliven public space, and using mosaic as a collective practice that engages the whole community. David is actively involved with British Association of Modern Mosaic as well as an advocate for the abolishment of prisons. David was the Director of the school until October 2021.

Apprentices

You can read more here about our current apprentices.

Guest Lecturers

Francesca Busca, ‘EcoArtivist’, Lecturer in Mosaic Practice
Anastasia Russa, Mural Painter, Lecturer in Drawing
Tessa Hunkin, Mosaic Maker, Lecturer in Mosaic Design
Gary Bricknell, The Mosaic Restoration Company

Freelance Tutors

Catherine Parkinson
Alex McHallam
Paula Ligo
Rada Stilianova
Eniko Leanyvari

Trustees

Gary Sharkey, Chair

Based in London, Gary splits his time between PwC’s sustainability and smart cities practices. Aligning to PwC’s purpose to ‘build trust in society and solve important problems,’ in his global role he helps PwC’s clients, partners and staff better respond to urbanisation, climate change and resource scarcity, accelerating technological development and other significant megatrends. Outside of PwC he runs a social enterprise dedicated to bringing health and wellness coaching to disadvantaged groups and is on the board of the London School of Mosaic

Prerana Phadnis, Vice Chair
Prerana Phadnis is a published author and a contemporary mosaic artist. She moved from Mumbai, India to London in 1980, gained a Master of Arts in Industrial Design at Central Saint Martins University of the Arts, London juggling her studies with the demands of bringing up two young children. She later gained a Master of Business Administration.

In 2018, she decided to retire from her role as a business coach after spending 25 years using creative thinking to help a wide range of UK companies to successfully re-evaluate their businesses.

She made this decision to follow her passion for mosaic making and writing about the insights she had gained working with businesses in and around London. Her book, “A different life, piece by piece “is published by The Book Guild and was launched in April 2022.

Prerana also enjoys cooking and experimenting with different types of cuisine. More recently Prerana has become quite attached to her son’s dog, a black Labrador, which is a big change from never being a ‘dog person’ before!

Other trustees:
Neel Ramful (Burberry)
Christie Beauchamp (Point Blank Music School)
Olga Astaniotis
Dr Jemma Ayton
Cllr Marcus Boyland (Camden Council)
Brad Hepburn (Ludham and Waxham TRA, Safer Neighborhood Forum)
Joanna Lewis
Joshua Panda
Lois Miller
Dr Zain Odho (NHS)