Why Zellige Tiles Are So Expensive | So Expensive

the leash tiles start out as a simple mixture of clay and water but after several days of painstaking work artisans chisel and transform them into a complex work of art compared to other popular tiles zelich tiles aren't cheap a square foot can cost 50 while ceramic subway tiles might only cost around 15 cents but this art form relies on the skilled artisans that make each tile by hand like ahmed almaghari who has been making zli's tiles for 54 years so how are zli's tiles made and is this what makes them so expensive [Music] while perfection is often valued it's the imperfect qualities of zelige that make the tiles so unique artisans in morocco have been hand making zelige tiles for centuries today they continue this tradition in the city of fez tiles they first need to form the clay fes has remained a center for zelige partly because of these rocks they're considered some of the best materials in the region for making high quality clay this clay is believed to be more durable than some clays found further south and it can withstand very high temperatures once fired first an artisan tosses the rocks into a pit in the ground called a zuba they fill the zuba with water and leave the rocks to soften for a day then in one of many tedious stages to come an artisan needs the clay using their hands and feet to make it more malleable after the clay has fermented for a day a different artisan has the task of molding it into the proper shape [Music] [Music] the artisan places the clay into a mold smoothing it over with one hand so the surface is flat for every 10 kilograms of clay artisans can make over 10 square feet or about 1 meter of tiles after molding hundreds of tiles they leave the clay to dry under the sun the next stage is vital to ensuring the tiles will remain intact [Music] hitting the clay repeatedly also removes air bubbles if the air isn't removed the tile may break when an artisan later tries to chisel it once each piece is perfectly square the tiles dry again under the sun finally it's time for the clay to head to the kiln [Music] precision is critical at this stage which is why just one person is trusted to leave the job [Music] foreign [Music] abdullah head glazes the tiles and then they're fired for a second time the second firing ensures the color won't fade it also gives elise tiles one of their most distinct features heat doesn't circulate evenly in a traditional moroccan kiln which is why each tile even those with the same color glaze will have a slightly different shade but these tiles are just getting started after glazing the tiles move on to the cutting stage where artisans trace the small shapes they'll later carve chiseling the tiles requires total concentration artisans must carve each piece as cleanly as possible otherwise it may not fit properly into the final design how well and efficiently this is done depends on the expertise of the artisan and a tool known as the mankash it's a combination of a hammer and an axe because they're hand chiseled no two's leash tiles will look exactly the same it's the prime feature that distinguishes the liege from mass-produced tiles that are notably uniform in color shape and texture [Music] arabesque first creates designs on the computer then ahmed uses a paper printout as a guide to assemble the final design on the floor [Music] ahmed inserts each individual tile by hand like a puzzle piece making sure every tile seamlessly fits next to its neighborhood [Music] [Music] after about 15 days of assembling the pieces ahmed can reveal the finished design the final price of a mosaic like this is the sum of several factors including the number of pieces and their shape this is the average normal 36 pieces the shape of it is very square so the price of it it's very affordable and like if we go here which is made of stars and cross there are 36 pieces by 36 or 36 pieces here also but the price of this is four times the price of the other one because of the shape [Music] adil also considers the size of the tiles within a design smaller pieces are not as simple to chisel by hand the smaller the tiles the more expensive the design will be there are areas where you have a square foot that can have 64 pieces 128 pieces 360 pieces versus 36 pieces so if you have one that costs 10 per square foot the other one might cost 10 times 100 per square foot the price increases further for more complex designs this style has an interlace the interlace is automatically double the price so if you have a ten dollar square foot with the interlace is twenty dollars centuries ago zelich tiles were reserved for royal palaces today they've become synonymous with moroccan design you'll find them covering walls floors and fountains across fez when we talk about morocco and moroccan architecture the first thing comes to mind is the league but its influence goes beyond morocco demand has grown in the u.s especially in recent years as notable designers like kelly warsler incorporate zelige into their own work but the way some are using the tiles is different rather than mosaics they're creating monochromatic backsplashes part of the appeal of using just one color of the liege is that it appears ombre when multiple tiles come together thanks to their subtle variation in shade but while zelige becomes more popular overseas adil struggles to find young people locally he can trust with the trade this is more of a living art but it's also a dying tradition nowadays people are not patient as much as in before if you look at the people who used to work for in this trade they're very calm they're very peaceful there's they have inner peace nowadays we find extreme hardship to train and adopt people who can carry this kind of tradition as as elise artisans [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] depends on the hand that makes it preserving it means finding more artisans like ahmed willing to spend decades learning the craft behind this signature moroccan design

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Length: 10min 29sec (629 seconds)

Published: Tue May 17 2022