White Matte Zellige Tiles 4x4

Zellige tiles four inches square and three eighths deep, hand cut in Morocco and finished in a matte white. Sixty pieces make a box, which covers 6.67 square feet.

Matte changes the argument

Most zellige is sold on its glossy, puddled glaze. Taking the reflection away leaves the hand work itself to carry the tile: uneven edges, pits in the surface, thickness that changes from one piece to the next, colour that shifts inside a single box. None of that is a defect in this tile, it is the record of how it was made. Matte also hides smudges that a gloss would collect, which is worth knowing for a surface within reach. Colour inside one box can swing further than a catalogue photograph suggests, which is why the boxes want opening and mixing before any of it goes down.

• Hand cut Edges, pits and colour shifts come with the tile.
• Sixty a box 6.67 square feet from one box.

Residential interior floors

Residential interior floors is the approval on file, and kitchen is the room listed. Set these with a tight joint of about a sixteenth of an inch, or leave them nearly touching as tradition has it, with a dark or matching grout. Thickness varies piece to piece, so butter the back of each one and check the face for level as you go. Eleven boxes see out 60 square feet with waste in hand.

• Tight joints About 1/16 inch, or nearly butted.
• Level as you go Varying thickness has to be managed piece by piece.

Why we chose it

• Made by hand No two pieces repeat, because none were machine cut.
• Matte surface No reflection, and smudges stay out of sight.
• Grout to match Brilliant white unsanded grout is listed with it.

Care

The glaze wipes clean with any household tile cleaner. Exposed clay along the cut edges can be sealed if you would rather it did not pick up marks.