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Shop our Pure White 4x4 Zellige TilesPure White 4x4 zellige tiles or zellij are an ancestral north African art. The tradition has been treasured from one generation to another and today only very skilled craftsmen can achieve these complex geometric mosaic works. Ideal for wall and floor coverings, but also for bathrooms, kitchen backsplash or even swimming pools, Moroccan tile has inspired many architects and designers to create custom original works.How we make our Pure White 4x4 zellige.Zellige has been made in Morocco for over a 1000 years. Finding the highest quality clay is extremely important to produce the finest Zellige tile. The region of Fez has one of the best quality clays in Morocco.The clay is soaked in water until it reaches a soft texture. Once the clay is soft enough to handle it is filtered by hand.After filtering, a skilled craftsmen flattens the clay by hand into squares. This part is very important because the clay must be compact with no air bubbles in it.Raw Zellige clay tiles are then allowed to dry outdoors, like adobe. Most tile production takes place in the summer, early fall and spring.After the clay is shaped, molded and flattened, it is kept and stored in a cool dry place to be readied for a first bake.All fired up from clay to kiln.After the uncured Zellige tiles are dried another skilled craftsmen applies a glaze to the top of the tile.The Zellige tiles are now placed in natural, wood fired kilns. In traditional moroccan Zellige kilns, heat circulates unevenly, resulting in slightly different tones and colors for each tile. It is these imperfections that make Moroccan tiles so unique and beautiful.The end product is a 4"x4" tile with remarkable texture and tone, unlike any other tile on earth.A tile apart what makes zellige so extraordinarily special.Zellige making is considered an art in and of itself. This art is transmitted from generation to generation by master craftsmen. There are three craftsmen needed for Zellige. The first selects the tiles and then draws the shape desired and passes the tile to the next craftsmen.The most important part of this entire process is the third craftsmen, also called the master craftsmen. He specializes in cutting the excess clay and performs precision cutting. The end results are an incredible variety of shaped pieces that are assembled to create intricate Zellige patterns. The possibilities are unlimited.

Image 7 of 28 from gallery of Cabane ABC / Atelier Toboggan. Photograph by Soulier Raphäel

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Modern maker of 18th-century furniture offers some tips on working smart

It's getting close to thirty years ago that I built this chair, a short time after returning to the states from Great Britain to start my first shop, and English style was still very much in front of my eyes. The chair was a commission to go with a desk, and my client liked the classics. I had been working and studying hard in England, trying to soak up as much as I could from the great furniture making history in that part of the world, and in a good local to do it, the town of High Wycombe, that in the 19th and early 20th centuries had been the chair making capital of the....universe? Someone might pass through the place on their way from London to Oxford, and not give it a second thought beyond it's gritty appearance as a relatively small industrial town like others, but beneath the exterior is a rich furniture making past, some things special to only that region. Surrounded by Beech woods, during one period more handmade chairs were being produced there than in any other place in the world. I was working in the town at a later date, but the atmosphere I experienced was exciting for me as a young furniture maker. The workshops still in business were down to only a rare few, others had evolved to a nearly total mechanized operation putting out much less than spirited work. In addition to where I was fortunate to have found employment after a good deal of searching, walking down the narrow lanes and looking up at the many windows in the old brick buildings, behind which generations of woodworkers had once been working at their benches, it served as a great inspiration for me on my path. There was some kind of spirit lingering in the air that spoke to me. The chairs could still be seen in some pubs and hotels, continuing to do their jobs daily after the many years, with a lot of character and the nuances that you can recognize from being made in that area. I met a few blokes who had once worked in those brick buildings, retired by then, but with their tools kept in their sheds, and their interest in woodworking still evident in their eyes as they told the remembrances. I found a meaning in all of it, cool to be going through the same motions with all the ghosts. In my opinion, there is a lot to learn from studying classical furniture. What is it that makes a particular chair more appealing, compared to a similar design made in another shop, the "good", "better", and "best". Subjective to some extent, but the experts will agree, and the huge sums that the auction houses can now obtain for the best work helps to confirm. What are the characteristics that makes up a nicely designed and executed cabriole leg, both a delicate and robust form that found it's way all the way over from China? There have been almost an infinite number of variations, probably almost as many as the number of makers who have used the idea. You don't have to think that a design is still timely to get a hint of good balance from it, maybe pick up an essence that can be applied to more contemporary work as well. The influences were very strong from the interior design fashions of those earlier eras, moving from the city to the countryside, and there was lively competition amongst the designers and manufacturers for recognition. Not a sense of indecision behind what went into the work, design uniqueness seems to have been a lesser aspiration after a style took hold, with slight variations and strong execution reflecting the culture of the time. Sometimes I like to look at the older work that I have done. Though greatly influenced, this chair wasn't exactly a copy, it has a bit of my own interpretation to it. Developing my own perspective about work was still very young, and I can never go back to having the same sense that this chair came from, lots of water beneath the bridge since, carrying many hundreds of pieces of furniture. 'Naive' can be a useful quality in design, sometimes simple and to the point, and less individualism can bring with it a pleasing quality of restraint. All in all, there are one or two things that I might want to do a little different with this chair were I to build it now, but it does honestly represent a certain time and accumulation of effort, and I am still happy with it, albeit produced so long ago. Using black Walnut for the chair, my client liked the wood. The steam bends are unusual, from a Sycamore that grew near my shop, and the wood is not usually regarded as a good bending species. It would bend ok, but warp badly during the subsequent drying time. Thankfully, I managed to get something that I could use after a few tries, it worked out alright. この椅子を製作したのは、最初の工房を始めるために英国からアメリカに戻ってすぐ後で、もう３０年近く前、まだイギリス様式から目を離すことができない頃でした。 この椅子は、伝統的なものを好むクライアントによる、机とのセット注文でした。　イギリスのHigh Wycombeという良き町で　―１９世紀から２０世紀初頭にかけてこの町は、銀河系全体．．．？からみても、椅子作りの中心地でした―　その世界の中でも卓越した家具作りの歴史から、出来る限りを吸収するため私は勉強と制作に熱心にとりかかりました。　ロンドンからオックスフォードに向かう道中に通りかかっても、この小さな産業地帯のようなじゃりじゃりとした外観の町を再考することはないかもしれませんが、この外面の下には豊かな家具作りの歴史、この地域だけに当て嵌まる特別なものがあります。 町はブナの森に囲まれ、一時は手作りの椅子が、世界中のどこよりも製作されていました。　私がそこで仕事をしていたのはその歴史の中でも後半でしたが、まだ若い家具職人であった私にとって、そこで体験した雰囲気は刺激的なものでした。　今では、まだ製作をおこなっている工場は希少な存在となり、他の工場はほとんど全ての工程が機械化され、心のこもった作品は生み出されなくなりました。 苦労の末に私が町で手にした勤め先の幸運としてさらに付け加えると、細い路地を歩きながら、古いレンガ造りの建物の、代々の家具職人達が作業台についていたであろう数多き窓を見上げていたことは、私の生き方の大きなインスピレーションになりました。　そこには私に話しかけてくる、なかなか消えない熱情(spirit)のようなものが感じられたのでした。　その頃の椅子はパブや宿場で何年もの時を経た今でも、その地域のものであると見てわかる性質とニュアンスを放ちながら、日課を守っているのを見ることができます。　私が見上げていた古いレンガ造りの建物で仕事をしていた何人かの職人に出会ったことがありますが、もう引退はしていたものの、彼らの工具はまだ物置に保管されていて、思い出話をする彼らの目にははっきりと、木工に対していだく関心をみてとることができました。　これらのこと全てに、私は趣旨を見出しました　―　亡霊たちと同じ経験を辿ることはクールだ 個人的な意見ですが、伝統的な家具の勉強には学ぶところがたくさんあります。　ある特定の椅子を、他の工場で作られたデザインのよく似た椅子と比べたときに、より魅惑的に、『よく』『よりよく』『最もよく』見せるものは何か．．．　中国から渡って来た繊細且つどっしりとした曲がり脚を、注意深く美しくデザイン/製作するための特性とはなんだろうか．．．　そこには無限に近い数、おそらくアイディアを形にした職人の数だけのバリーエーションがありました。 良いバランスの手引きを得るのに、既存のデザインがタイムリーだと考える必要はなく、しいて言えば、もっと現代的な作品にも応用できるエッセンスを見繕う、ような感じです。　一時代初期のインテリアデザインファッションから来た影響は非常に強く、都市から地方へと移行し、デザイナーと製作者の間には認識、評価のための活発な競争がありました。　その頃の文化を反映するわずかなバリエーションと強固な手法と共に、スタイルが重視されるようになり、取り入れられたものの背景にあった躊躇いとは関係なく、デザインの独特さが向上心に繋がることが少なくなったように思います。 私は時々、自分の手がけた昔の作品を見るのが好きです。　強い影響はあったものの、自分なりの解釈を多少含んだこの椅子は、完全に模倣ではありませんでした。　仕事に対する自分の観点の発達はまだ若いものであったし、この椅子が生まれてきた同じセンスを持っていた頃には二度と戻れません。　橋の下の川水はあれ以来、何百もの家具を流し運んでいきました。　“素朴さ"はデザインに役立つ特質に成り得るし、また独自性が少ないことによって魅力的な慎み深さが生まれます。　概して今、この椅子をつくるのであったら、１、２箇所、少し違ったことをしたいです。　が、この椅子はある特定の時期と努力の蓄積を表していて、ずっと昔に作られたものではあっても、自分では満足のいく作品です。 クライアントの嗜好から、椅子には黒クルミ材を使用しました。　本来プラタナスはスチームベンドに向かず、曲げることはできても乾かす過程でそりが悪くなりますが、ありがたいことに何度かの試みの末、使えるものができ、うまくいきました。