A piece from a series of sketches at the Stroganov Academy.
The workshop is tucked away in a department hallway, crowded with artworks. Upon entering, visitors are met by the gazes of birds, beasts, and the faces of saints from Byzantine and Roman mosaics. Tall shelves lining the walls are packed with crates of neatly arranged tiles, smalt, and stone. The clinking of hammers and the rumble of machinery—splitting solid chunks of material into tiny tesserae, the fragments used to craft mosaics—blend with the instructor’s jokes.