Crafting Moroccan Zellige Tilework
Morocco is known for its intricate, hand-crafted pottery and ceramics. Sometimes hand-painted and sometimes tessellated into intricate mosaics, colourful ceramics are fundamental to Moroccan architecture and daily life.
I love pottery.
Not too far from my home, there is a Moroccan restaurant and emporium where all manner of colourful earthenware is available. While I have occasionally stopped for lunch, I have managed to resist buying house numbers, fountains, kitchenwares, or floor tiles.
But being in an actual traditional family-run pottery store in Fes, known as Morocco’s cultural capital, was a whole different story. I could have taken it all home!
One of the things I love about small-group travel is the access it gives you to local crafts and cottage industries. My group had driven into Fes the day before from the delightful blue city of Chefchaouen (see: Road Stops, Home Visits, and Fabulous Food). I had checked our trip itinerary, and – in addition to the usual notable mosques and palaces – our day in the historic UNESCO-listed, northern-inland Moroccan city of Fes included visits to textile weavers, a leather-works (Watch this space!), and a pottery workshop.
I was particularly excited about the pottery workshop for two reasons: firstly, I love watching and photographing artisans at work; and secondly, I had my heart set on a genuine tajine (shallow earthen pot): that iconic glazed pottery cooking utensil with a conical lid that Morocco is known for.
Art Naji was established inside the medina (old city) by the Fakhari brothers in 1930. Their operations (and those of other potters) were moved to Ain Nokbi, a district just outside the medina in 2013 to provide them with more space and to reduce the impact of the dust and heat of the kilns on the residents of the inner city.
Join me on a visit:
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Outside Art Naji
Now that the workshop is outside the medina, there is space!
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Men outside Art Naji
Space to display some of the bigger pottery pieces. Intricate geometric and arabesque patterns are heavily influenced by Islamic and Berber art.
Guide to the Workshop
Inside the building, we meet our guide, who will explain the work-flow to us.
Bowl of Fridge Magnets
Working on an Inlay
Zellige is a centuries-old art form – originating in 10th-century Morocco and southern Spain – using natural clay tiles that are molded, chiseled, and glazed by hand, and then inlaid into complex patterns.
Zellige Tilework
The artisan uses a specialized hammer to create the intricate geometric shapes that zellige tiles are known for. The word zellige (zellij or zillij) comes from an Arabic word meaning “little polished stone” or “to slide”.
Wet Clay
Potter at a Wheel
Every step of the production process is as it once was …
Potter at Work
.. starting with shaping the wet clay on a hand-turned wheel.
Mini –Tajines in the Making
Unglazed Pottery
Kiln-dried pottery waits to be painted, glazed, and re-fired.
Jigsaw Puzzle
An authentic zellige tiled piece is expensive: understandable when you see the thought and work that goes into it.
Painting a Bowl
Like everything else, painting the traditional colourful patterns is done by hand.
Concentration
The detailed work takes focus and concentration.
Work at Art Naji
Every nook and cranny is filled with pottery at various stages of completion.
Craftsman
Grinding and Polishing
Beautiful Blues
I seem to have wandered full circle – but I can’t help but admire this beautiful piece.
Vase
In a separate room, some stunning old pieces are on display. Arabic calligraphy is a common decorative theme.
Fine Wares
The showroom features historic Moroccan ceramics – some of them very old – featuring traditional designs, variants of which are still in use.
Blues
Fes is known for its blue-and-white patterns.
Tagine On-Order
One corridor was full of dish-sets waiting for completion and shipping. I decided on one like this …
The Crate
… and six months later it arrived!
The Plates
It was so well wrapped it took me an hour to unbox it!
As each piece is handcrafted, it is – as they say: “Perfectly imperfect.” I smile and remember Fes every time I use it.
Photos: 18October2024
