About — Zellige Tile USA

Since 1974

Three generations,
one chisel.

Our grandfather opened a workshop in the Fez medina in 1974 with two kilns and four apprentices. Today the same family runs thirty-one artisans in the same quarter, working from the same clay pits.

We export to architects, designers and hotel groups in thirty-eight countries — but nothing about how the tile is made has changed. It is still cut face-down with a menqach, still fired with olive wood, still sorted by eye.

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Artisans

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Projects

The Process

From clay pit to crate.

01

Clay

Grey Fez clay is dug, sieved, kneaded by foot and rested for four days until it holds an edge.

02

Forming

Each tile is hand-shaped in a wooden mould and sun-dried on the atelier roof.

03

First Firing

Fired at 900°C in an olive-wood kiln for around twelve hours.

04

Glazing

Dipped by hand in mineral oxide glaze — copper for emerald, cobalt for blue — then fired again.

05

Chiselling

Cut face-down with a menqach into bejmat, scale or mosaic shapes. Millimetre work, entirely by eye.

06

Crating

Dry-laid, photographed, sorted for tone and crated with insurance for the journey.

Three generations,one chisel.