Fès Zellige Tiles Orange & White — 50×50cm, 25pcs

Look at the orange tiles in a row and none of them are the same orange. One runs deep rust at the centre and pales toward an edge. Another holds an almost amber pool where the glaze settled thicker. That happens in the kiln — the glaze moves as it melts and nobody decides exactly where it lands. Against the whites, which have their own drift from bone to a faint grey-green, the effect on a wall is a surface that shifts as the light crosses it through the day. This is Fès, where zellige has been made from local terracotta for centuries. Twenty-five tiles at 10×10cm, covering 50×50cm.

What Makes It

• Every tile is a different tile — glaze pooling, tone drift, and subtle thickness variation are inherent to how zellige is fired. Set 25 of them together and the surface has depth that a printed tile flat-out cannot produce.
• Terracotta body, not porcelain — the clay is dug locally and fired red. You can see it at the edges. That warm base is what makes the glaze read the way it does; a white body underneath would give you a different colour entirely.
• Orange and white is the classic riad floor — it's the combination used in Moroccan courtyards for centuries, laid straight or on the diagonal as a checker. It works on floors, backsplashes, fireplace surrounds, and full accent walls.
• 10×10cm is the flexible size — big enough to lay quickly, small enough for detailed patterns, borders, and tight areas around fixtures.
• Sold in 50×50cm panels — 25 tiles per panel, 0.25m² of coverage. Order the panel count you need and add 10–15% for cuts and breakage, as with any tile.

The Craft

Zellige begins as clay dug from the ground around Fès, shaped, dried in the sun, then fired in kilns fuelled the traditional way. The glaze is applied by hand and fired again, and what comes out is not fully predictable — the same glaze on the same clay in the same kiln produces a range rather than a match. Moroccan tile setters have worked with that range for centuries; the pattern language of zellige exists because craftsmen learned to compose with variation instead of against it. The imperfection is not tolerated. It is the material.

Details

Before You Order

Order a sample first. Colour and texture vary between batches, and a screen cannot show you how the glaze moves. Buying a sample before a full order is standard practice with handmade tile and it will tell you more than any photograph.

Zellige needs an installer who has worked with handmade tile before. The thickness variation means it does not set like a factory tile, and the result depends heavily on how it's laid. We recommend a professional.

Need a specific quantity, a different colour, or a bulk order for a renovation or a commercial space? Message us and we'll prepare it.

Care

Seal after installation as recommended by your installer. Clean with a pH-neutral cleaner. Avoid acidic or abrasive products, which will damage the glaze.

What's Included

25 tiles covering 50×50cm, packed with protection for transit. One Origin Passport card with a QR code — scan it to see the workshop in Fès, the artisan who made them, the technique, and the GPS coordinates of where the clay was fired. The passport stays with the tiles permanently, including if the property changes hands.

Ships worldwide via DHL Express with tracking. 0 returns across 63 orders. 5.0 rating.