Available in stock.

*Size: 8 inches width = 20 cm width

* comes with foldable metal holder

*Custom size on order, please contact us
*Colors:
you can customize the colors you want, just contact us.

Description:

Embodying the spirit of innovation and homage to the ancestral traditions of this craft, Zelligtable summons contemporary decorative trends with its patinated metal base with an art deco look, and its entirely handmade top where colorful terracotta mosaics are applied to a delicate and rot-proof construction panel. Available in shades of green, in Majorelle blue in patchwork of colors, the Zelligtable collection sublimates the tradition of zellige by offering a piece of furniture with a powerful decorative aura, unique and subtly Moroccan.

Direction and history:

The first step in manufacturing is the molding of clay (mzahri in Arabic). This is followed by the calibration and drying of the formed tile, then its first firing. The tiles, about ten centimeters on each side, are then enamelled and baked. Tiles of different colors are then cut according to defined geometric shapes, which allows their nesting. This artisanal cutting is made with a sharp hammer that reveals a thin border of terracotta laid bare on the perimeter of the pieces of cut tiles (tesserae). The kassar is the craftsman in charge of cutting the tiles into tesserae. His sharp hammer is named manqach. After this first cut, the next step is the khallaç which consists of chamfering the tesserae by giving them regular stops. In Arabic, we call mâalem the craftsman who elaborates the geometric patterns, sometimes of great complexity. He is usually able to draw and assemble geometric tesserae from memory and glue them directly onto the walls to be decorated.

The fuel of the traditional ovens was palm leaves, large white thistles and oleander branches.

The mâalem Alaoui in the middle of the twentieth century revolutionized the technique of laying zelliges. At that time, decorative earthenware was no longer limited to sacred or intimate spaces but also decorated public monuments. The system imagined by the mâalem allowed a faster and more solid installation. The tesserae were no longer placed one by one on the walls but by whole panels. From a trace on the ground, the zelliges are placed upside down on black soap, sprinkled with stucco mixed with water. They are then covered with a thick layer of mortar that holds the whole. The royal commissions made it possible to breathe new life into the craftsmanship of the zellige (the Mohammed-V mausoleum in Rabat and the Hassan-II mosque in Casablanca.

The clay is transported to the workshop with double couffes loaded on the back of a donkey. The craftsmen crush the clay blocks and put them to soak in the basins dug into the floor of the courtyard. The craftsman descends into the pit and crushes the clay with his hands to penetrate the water. The resulting paste is drained on the edges of the pit and then relegated en masse to a corner of the workshop. When drained, the clay is spread on the terraces for sun drying during the summer months. During the winter, employees enamel, bake and cut the tiles.