Gray Zellige Shower with Matte Black Fixtures
Hand-made gray zellige tile shower wall with matte black thermostatic fixtures
Walkthrough of the install
What zellige is and why it looks that way
Zellige is a hand-made Moroccan clay tile. Each tile is individually glazed and fired, which means color varies tile to tile, surfaces aren't perfectly flat, and edges aren't perfectly straight. That's the whole point. The variation catches light differently from one tile to the next, giving the wall a depth you can't get from a machine-made tile.
Setting hand-made tile straight
If the tiles themselves aren't straight, the installer has to be. We used leveling clips and a laser line to keep the horizontal joints true even when the tile edges wandered. The visual effect is intentional handcraft (every tile is unique) within a disciplined grid (joints are dead straight).
Fixture choice: matte black as a graphic element
Matte black fixtures against a muted gray textured background read as a bold graphic — the valve plate, the handheld, and the tub spout are the three dark points on an otherwise soft field. We spec'd fixtures from the same product line so handle geometry and trim plate shapes match across the shower.
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