Moroccan Tilework

November 5th, 2017

On our one full day in Fes, we were taken to see many of the local craftsmen and artisans at work.  One of the places we went was a tile factory, where they made thrown and slab pottery and tiles.  They hand painted many pieces, hand cut tiles as well, and created beautiful mosaics.  Of course, so many of the places we went around Morocco had stunning tilework and mosaics, not just the tile factory.  Here are some of my favorites.  

a playful pattern of squares and trapezoids

recently unearthed room where royalty had been buried hundreds of years ago

another part of same complex---each of those rectangles in a grave

amazingly intricate---each tile hand-cut

maybe my favorite---I love the subtle variations in green as well as
organically-flowing pattern

sink basin for sale at tile factory

table-top at tile factory

staircase at tile factory

just a random floor, but, again, I love the variations in the green
as well as the sky blue tiles inset

in our Fes hotel, Dar Fes Medina

table top on the deck of our Fes hotel

floor of palace in Marrakech

I tend to like the more organic tile patterns, but if Anna had been there with us, I'm sure she would have preferred the more geometric ones, in particular the tiling patterns with regular polygons.  (She feels strongly enough about the subject that when I ordered penny tiles for our bathroom renovation a few years ago, she said, "Mom, I can't believe you actually had a plane to tile and chose geometric shapes that don't tile the plane!"  I don't think she's quite forgiven me.)