Examples of "Moroccan Tadelakt" Lime Plaster

3/11/2014

3 Comments

Peter Holmes link

4/3/2014 06:47:17 am

The 1000-year old craft of “tadelakt” is a Moroccan tradition, with lime from The Marakech Plateau, the only place where the original tadelakt lime can be found. That's where the word "tadelakt" comes from, it means "to rub in", it's not the name of a product. Its meaning is that that the nearly finished lime coat is polished with a stone, rubbing tadelakt soap into the surface.

Many people have tried to copy this age old tradition and pass it off as the original “Tadelakt “ sourced from the Marrakech Plateau. Beware of imitations.

These new products have their place in modern buildings, they are much easier to use and if applied by a skilled applicator can give the illusion of a tadelakt finish, however up close and once you feel the surface it is like he difference between a genuine piece of hand crafted stone and a composite stone.

The miniscule hairline cracks which form in with the original product, that then crystallize and glisten in the sunlight. The natural impurities from the half burned lime which has 20,000 year old calcified remains of the creatures that once lived on the sea bed before it became the Marrakesh plateau. The raw ash from where the Berbers have burned the lime in their ten meter by five meter fire pits, all still minutely evident in the final finish. Being only burned in open fires and not in modern furnaces the lime does not fully break down and so has its own aggregate, unlike modern copies which have to add sand or other substitutes as their lime has been burned to a fine powder.

I have worked with the new modern alternatives, they defiantly have their place for both plasterers and renderers to learn how to use, the hobbyist to have a go and designers or architects who are on a budget and looking for an affordable “ look” – However for the true connoisseur, traditionalist of Natural materials and Artisan – there is unquestionably no alternative.

Jared Eglinski

10/23/2017 12:40:44 pm

"Beware of imitations.

...illusion of a tadelakt finish, however up close and once you feel the surface it is like he difference between a genuine piece of hand crafted stone and a composite stone."

Tadelatk like you stated, is the process 'to rub in'. To do it, is to imitate the process of rubbing the plaster in, not whatever it is that you are promotoing. You are making tadelakt sound like something it is not. change your article accordingly. 'Tadelakt' does not need to have little cracks or whatever you are claiming. I find your article disrespectful to the concept of tadelakt as a whole.

Barbara Hartley

11/15/2018 01:59:43 pm

I am looking to have this ‘original finish’ for my new bathroom- primarily for the waterproof benefit on the walls and ceiling. I have no window and natural light in this room.

Examples of "Moroccan Tadelakt" Lime Plaster

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"Just the Finish"

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Examples of "Moroccan Tadelakt" Lime Plaster

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"Just the Finish"