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Fireplace
Fireplace surrounds that anchor a living space with warmth and texture.
Fireplace tiles in real spaces
Rendered from each tile's real colour & glaze — shown with different grout options.
Antique Rose Zellige 4x4
Burnt Honey Zellige 4x4
Moroccan White Zellige 4x4
Oxblood Zellige 4x4
Maroon Zellige 4x4
Ivory Ecru Zellige 4x4
Bejmat Maroon 2x6
Glazed Terracotta Zellige 4x4
Desert Sage Zellige 4x4
Smokey Blue Zellige 4x4
Desert Fig Zellige 4x4
Moroccan White & Silk White Octagon Zellige 8x8
Palm Grove Zellige 4x4
Bejmat Oxblood 2x6
Bejmat Silk White 2x6
Bejmat Glazed Terracotta 2x6
Bejmat Burnt Honey 2x6
Unglazed Terracotta Zellige 4x4
Unglazed Terracotta & Moroccan White Octagon Zellige 8x8
Bejmat Unglazed Terracotta 2x6
The room where the glaze does the most work
A fireplace surround is the one place where the tile is lit from below and from the side, by a moving flame, at close range. Every quality zellige is bought for — the pooled glaze at the edges, the difference between one hand-cut piece and the next, the way a dark red goes near-black where it thickens — is doing its most visible work here.
This is why the deep colours belong on a fireplace. Oxblood reads near-brown under a warm bulb and pulls red as the fire moves. Palm Grove and Moss Green swallow light and give it back only where the glaze is thin. Burnt Honey is the warmest and the most reflective.
Heat, and what to lay it on
Zellige is fired terracotta, so radiant heat from a firebox is not a problem for the tile. What matters is the setting material and the clearances your firebox specifies — those are set by the appliance manufacturer and the local code, not by the tile.
Keep zellige on the surround and the chimney breast rather than the hearth floor, for the same reason it stays off a shower floor: it is a wall tile.
Common Questions
Can zellige tile be used on a fireplace surround?
Yes, and it is one of the best uses for it — firelight moving across a hand-glazed surface is exactly what the material is for. Keep it on the surround and chimney breast rather than the hearth floor.
Is zellige heat resistant?
It is fired terracotta under a fired glaze, so radiant heat from a firebox does not trouble it. Follow the firebox manufacturer's clearances and use an appropriate setting material.
Which colours suit a fireplace best?
The deep ones, because they are read close up and lit from below: Oxblood, Maroon, Palm Grove, Moss Green and Burnt Honey all gain depth in firelight where a flat pale tile would not.