Zellige takes its name from the Arabic expression for mosaic tilework, one of the most notable aspects of Moroccan architecture: small glazed pieces set by hand into geometric fields, where the irregularity of each individual tile is the whole beauty of the surface. Martyn Lawrence Bullard and the Cole & Son studio were keen to keep the feel of real glazed ceramic, and the design is hand-rendered for that reason.
The result is a geometric that breathes. Edges are not ruled, the glaze appears to pool and thin across each unit, and no two tiles in the repeat are identical, so the pattern never acquires the hard mechanical quality a drawn geometric usually has. On the wall this reads as depth, with the surface appearing slightly uneven, as a real tiled wall is.
The arithmetic is convenient: a 0.52 m roll with a 52 cm straight repeat, so each drop carries exactly one width of the pattern and setting out around doors and windows is straightforward. It works where tilework would be the conventional answer, in a kitchen, a cloakroom, a bathroom above the splashback, a scullery or a garden room. It is also the ground on which Bullard's layered style is built, and it takes rugs, lanterns, low seating and a great deal of pattern on top of it without complaint.
