Photo by Ari Kellerman
photo by Ari Kellerman
Marrakech Designs produced a custom zellige tile floor for an eclectic 1870’s brick townhouse in Back Bay, Boston. Our clients, a young couple, fell in love with the zellige tiles and hammams while traveling in Morocco and decided to bring their experience home. With the help of Meyer & Meyer Architects, a bathroom and closet were transformed into a personalized dressing room and en-suite bath that connects to the bedroom through an Ogee arch, an ancient design that spread Persia to North African and even Venice.
An Ogee Arch is the passageway between primary bedroom to the en-suite bath with a custom zellige tile floor. Photo by Ari Kellerman
Moroccan zellige tile, a living craft, also emerged from Islamic, Roman, and Byzantine design elements. The zellige tiles cover the serpentine floor plan as a bejeweled runner in turquoise, cobalt blue, white, yellow, and faience green.
The serpentine floor plan
Floor to ceiling mirrors expand the space and reflect the infinite repetition and variation in the traditional eight point star mosaic. The open closets overflow with vibrant dresses, while the white cabinets and tranluscent onyx countertops gently temper the mesmerizing effect of the zellige tile. The hand-made Moroccan mosaic floor not only looks enchanting, it feels delicious under bare feet.
Photo by Ari Kellerman
The inspiration was pulled House Beautiful by our client. Our artisan can produce any traditional Moroccan mosaic design.
The design process began, as it often does, with a photo of Moroccan tile bathroom torn from the pages of a magazine. For this project, the inspiration was pulled from House Beautiful. To bring the vision to life , we produced border samples, the field pattern samples and played around with various glaze color combinations until it met with approval. Each tile is hand-cut with chisel and set by hand on a bed of sand.
The floor plan with wrapped border corners was a challenge and the inherent imperfections in the zillege were a surprise to the tile installer who was not familiar with the idioscyncratic nature of Moroccan tiles. With the collaboration with the artisan, the architect, the contractor and the client we persevered until it was perfect with ample overage. The final result is mosaic tile floor that fit the space like custom leather glove. Tile Installation by F.H. Perry
As part of our custom design process, we always share the photost from our artisans workshop in Marrakesh.