Instal them without any gaps between tiles the grouting should be invisible.Īs for how to decorate with them, there are all sorts of ideas you can steal from the House & Garden archive, including a range of creative uses by our Top 100 designers. The texture and sheen of the square, hand-made, Zellige tile backsplash provides visual interest and design style while large windows offer spectacular views of. They will look imperfect, and probably quite shiny, too. The tiles should be hand-made, glazed, and should comprise only clay, without lime or iron in them. It’s worth keeping in mind that genuine Zellige has certain requirements to be described as such. You can buy Zellige tiles from any number of outlets in the UK and abroad, including Bert & May, Zellige Tiles, Terrazzo Tiles and Habibi Interiors. In 2019, they were even used in Hermès’ showcase of their new homeware collection at the Salone del Mobile in Milan, in which beautiful plates, vases and trays were set in the midst of astonishing pavilions decorated with 150,000 imported Moroccan zellige tiles those shimmering walls in rich hues of blue, purple, yellow and green set the design world’s hearts a-flutter. That said, you’re as likely to find contemporary Zellige in a trendy French farmhouse or the bathroom of a Manhattan apartment as you are in North Africa, which is no bad thing and evidence of the huge, huge popularity of the style. Then the raw tile biscuit was coated with a glaze of different colors (originally, only blue, yellow, and green), and fired again. The clays mixed with water were molded by hand, dried under the sun, and fired in the kiln. Often, the hand-made tiles would be made in lozenge or star shapes and fitted together into elaborate, tesselating patterned schemes in different colours, with an emphasis on blues, whites and greens (though you’re more likely to find them in simple squares in contemporary Western homes).įor the best examples of Zellige, the Alhambra in Granada can’t be beaten nor can the madrasas – the Islamic schools – of Fes and Meknes in Morocco. Zellige tiles are inspired by the antique Moroccan art of tile handcrafting using natural clay from the region of Fez. The fact that Islam forbids depictions of Allah or Muhammad means that pattern and decorative arts hold a high status within Arab aesthetics, and zelij was just one of many ways of adorning mosques or other important buildings. ![]() Historically, Zellige’s etymology has been traced back to zelij, a style of North African mosaic work found in Islamic art. Zellige tiles were originally just white and brown, but eventually incorporated blue, green, yellow, and red as their use became a representation of luxury and. That variety of tone, flatness, depth and shade is perfect for lending character to whatever space is being tiled – hence Zellige’s popularity. In short, Zellige (pronounced zell-idge) is a type of tiling that originated in Morocco, in which handcrafted tiles were made from a special blend of local clay and then glazed and fired, resulting in a surface with various irregularities that give each tile a unique look. Zellige tiles are one of those buzzwords or phrases that arise time and again when people talk about interiors.
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