Tadlelakt

Tadelakt is originaly from Morocco and more precisely from the town of Marrakech. The use of Tadelakt was current in the hammams and the basins where it was used for its sealing. Its use was rather functional that decorative or aesthetic.

Tadelakt had almost disappeared from Morocco with the arrival of cement, the tiling and the plastic. The appearance of these new materials easy and ready for employment has completely transformed the Morrocans traditional architecture and craft industry. The cob dwellings were not any more maintained and were replaced by new buildings in breeze blocks.

The return of Tadelakt was done in force in the beginning of the 90’s with the renovation of Riads by using techniques of construction out of ground which made it possible to preserve and to renovate the Moroccan architecture while keeping and respecting the know-how of traditional craftsmen.

Tadelakt indicates a technique characterized by its place of origin, its completion and its aspect. It protects the architecture by marrying all the forms, it is the ideal coating to emphasize the round-offs. It can be also cut by using the sgraffite which is an Italian decorative technique making it possible to obtain a drawing in hollow by scraping the last coating to reveal the coating of the lower part, generally of different color and texture.

Tadelakt is used as coating in the baths and basins thanks to its sealing. It is a coating which we obtain while mixing lime with water and which we let put back several hours before adding pigments of colors which are presented in the form of powder. These pigments are solid and made of insoluble grains to water, they require an adhesive to bind them between them. It is an old and traditional Moroccan technique. The pigments give a whole palette inspired by the basic color of the red of Marrakech as well as other colors like Majorelle blue or the Mamounia green.

The lime which enters in the preparation of Tadelakt has disinfectants virtues, it also comes from the town of Marrakech, it is of gray color with a granulous aspect due to the quality of the stone lime, its cooking and its sifting. It is resulting from a career where limestone is charged out of silica. The walls of the Moroccan residences were covered with lime plaster. On the other hand, inside, the decorations were sumptuous; squares of mozaic, plasters carved, wrought iron, joinery etc

The greasy character, and overdosage in lime of Tadelakt involves when drying, a micro cracks, it is what makes its authenticity and its singularity. The strong proportion of lime causes microscopic cracks which resemble an old earthenware, it is one of the charms of Tadelakt which one calls the faience manufacturing.

The great difficulty of the realization of Tadelakt is the control of the cracks which should not be too important not to weaken its behaviour. These microscopic cracks are tightened by using a small plastic tool. Once the coating posed, the plastic makes it possible to format Tadelakt and to give him a smooth and regular aspect.

At the end of the operation, the coating is polished with a granite roller which makes it possible to compress it and make penetrate a water rich in soft soap, which makes it more intense and more solid. The soft soap which is composed of olive oil is rich in fat contents and when we applie it to the still fresh coating, oil will enter in contact of water charged with calcium salts contained in lime plaster, which, by means of the roller enters in-depth and gives him a brightness which is the result of its natural plasticization.

Tadelakt is a coating which recovers a structure, it hardens with time, its behavior moves in time, it is not fixed. It is a natural coating. Tadelakt is easy of maintenance, it needs only little soft soap diluted in water to clean it, nourish it and make it shine.

 

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