Ateliers Zelij

About us

ATELIERS ZELIJ

A human adventure

Ateliers Zelij was founded by Delphine Laporte & Samir Mazer in the late 90s to bring to life and reinvent surface coverings and handmade wall decoration through Moroccan artisanal zellige. Their sensibility and their industrial design background later led them towards other materials: stone mosaic and terrazzo, and most recently wallpaper.

Our Motto?! Dare with effortless style, break the codes, invent a language and create a singular aesthetic: Ateliers Zelij is more than a surface creator. In our DNA there is an understanding of the materials we have chosen, a vision of their application and, above all, a commitment to preserving their essence.

We take our profession as Surface Designers seriously with an unwavering determination: to bring each of these products into a new era through a skillful balance, at the crossroads between art and design.

To achieve this, the quality of our products is essential with carefully selected raw materials and respect for ancestral manufacturing techniques, predominantly “handmade”. This means maintaining a close relationship with partner manufacturing workshops, overseeing production processes, and guaranteeing premium quality control.

We stand behind everything we produce to achieve our objective: to bring these noble and sensory materials into your interiors and architectural projects, and thus contribute at our level to well-being and contemplation. Thanks to this solid fabric of knowledge and collaborations, we provide personalized support to our professional clients – architects, decorators and discerning individuals – for projects ranging from gentle simplicity to the most extravagant!

In September 2025, Ateliers Zelij was distinguished for its innovative approach with the Arab World Institute Design Award, Contemporary Crafts category.

 

 

GENUINE MOROCCAN ZELLIGE

A love affair

Zellige is not just a word, and behind « zellige » there is a deep meaning, knowledge and understanding of this material. There is an art.
Genuine zellige is made by the hands of Master Craftsmen, called Mâalems, who have passed down the secrets of this art through the ages. To protect this know-how, the Moroccan Ministry of Artisanat created the label « Zellige de Fez ». We are committed to respecting this culture and therefore this material, which is why we are proud to produce our zellige respecting the specifications of this demanding label.

So how to recognize a genuine moroccan zellige?

This know-how has existed since the 12th century, and is a legacy of the great Al Andalus period which has been transmitted orally over the ages.
All our production is done by hand: from drying to enameling, including cutting with a marteline. This very simple and kind of intimidating object is an ode to delicacy in the hands of Moroccan Mâalems. In the ateliers, magic floats in the air …
The singularity of a genuine zellige is also due to the wood-fired oven. This capricious and captivating cooking method reveals what no gas oven can ever achieve: an absolutely unique sensitivity to the material.

Today zellige is well-know and desired because because of its unique vibration. But not all them are genuine, some just fake nuances and irregularity, so it is important for us at Ateliers Zelij to tell its story and stand by its true nature.

 

STONE & TERRAZZO

A new field of exploration

This collection begun with a project initiated by Aesop in 2018 and resulted the creation of a marble mosaic inspired by the floors of the Olivetti Foundation floors in Venice created by Carlo Scarpa. During the process we fell under the spell of Portuguese stones and a workshop near Porto.
In Portugal, stone is a very serious matter resulting from a long tradition, the soils are rich there. And it is at the very heart of Portuguese careers that we have found a renowned partner. This collection is the result of a collaboration with a team of passionate people who shared with us an ageless know-how. Our stones and terrazzo comes from Portugal and are produced by craftsmen, masters in textures, sizes and assembly. It is therefore a guarantee and expertise on stone and a high quality product which allies with the spirit of innovation and the fertile imagination of Ateliers Zelij.
This is an extraordinary new field of experimentation where the very trendy Terrazzo is now associated with the noblest of stone mosaics.

This collection is not only an artistic direction, but it is also a reflection on the valorization of what is considered as waste in the building : because we work on mosaics it allow us to treat stone and terrazzo in small format, this particularity has led us to re-use exceptional materials by isolating defects and minimizing losses. And the thicknesses help to reduce transport costs and thus the impact on the environment. We met the amazing team of a workshop near Porto, which knew how to preserve real savoir-faire and source local materials: it was love at first sight… What an extraordinary field of experimentation and a new opportunity for us to play with these noble and timeless materials!

 

ETHICS

A safe bridge between tradition and modernity

Ateliers Zelij is a French brand but also a multicultural adventure mainly based in Morocco. Based on values ​​of dialogue and mutual respect with a deep respect for know-how and the craftsmen who hold them, our challenge today is to maintain and promote the freedom to do in gestures, postures while ensuring an environment of safe and healthy work.

For a production between heritage and modernity, Ateliers Zelij is committed to:

The guarantees of the Labor Code Clauses in the country of production and respecting the minimum legal full-time working age set at 15 years old
Ensure a safe and healthy working environment.
The production of zellige is done according to ancestral techniques, often sitting on the floor for enameling and cutting in a specific posture. And these postures, yet tested and approved by the Mâalems, are not considered ideal according to the WHO. At our level and with a deep desire for dialogue, while respecting tradition, we have succeeded in certain production stages in developing seated workstations, ensuring what we consider to be a better posture.

Our vision is that of an open and united world in which the responsible economy is combined with social and environmental progress.
We are always thinking about improving ourselves by creating a virtuous circle with our various partners.