Laying cement tiles, zellige or Nabeul ceramics at home doesn’t have to feel like a museum: it’s all a matter of balance. Born in the Ardèche region around 1850, cement tiles sit alongside zellige, which comes from the Maghreb or Andalusia, and the handcrafted pieces of Nabeul, a town on the Cap Bon peninsula near Tunis and Hammamet, for an interior that feels alive, never frozen in time.
Cement tiles, zellige: where does this heritage we put in our homes come from?
heritage thrives tucked into a daily gesture far more than perched on a pedestal
Born around 1850 in the Ardèche, a region steeped in cement-making, the cement tile owes its process to a public-works contractor, Étienne Larmande. Cold-pressed, with no firing involved, it’s defined by its manufacture using a hydraulic press. Ten years later, the Lachave company, founded in Viviers, in the Ardèche, supplied moulds and presses to local manufacturers across the region.
Zellige follows an entirely different path. Its name is thought to come from the Arabic zellige (small polished stone) or from Andalusian roots, and it belongs to the vast repertoire of ornamental mosaic native to Islamic architecture. Its origins remain hazy: the technique seems to have developed almost simultaneously in the Maghreb and on the Iberian Peninsula, itself heir to Roman and Byzantine mosaics.
Why does Nabeul ceramic carry this craftsmanship today?
Nabeul is the capital of the governorate that bears its name, on the southern part of the Cap Bon peninsula, some sixty kilometres southeast of Tunis and not far from Hammamet. With around 70,000 inhabitants, it’s a mid-sized town, far removed from the anonymity of big cities, where an object still keeps a precise address.
Among the pieces that bring heritage into a home, the Nabeul ceramic tray with its discreet geometric patterns stands out for its restraint: a geometry that structures without overwhelming, designed to be used every day rather than displayed behind glass. Choosing this tray means anchoring your decor to a named place.
How do you balance these materials without turning your living room into a museum?
The lesson of Tunisian minimalism fits in one sentence: pair clean, spare lines with the warmth of a few handcrafted pieces, earth-toned pottery and weathered wood, softened by a hand-woven textile. Not accumulation, but selection. A ceramic vase set on a bare shelf, a hammered-metal tray waiting for your evening mint tea: every object breathes, because it’s the only one speaking.
These handmade pieces bring an organic touch without ever overloading a space, as long as you let them converse with understated textiles rather than piling them up. Pair them with hand-woven tablecloths or cushions in clean stripes. A single cushion tucked onto a clean-lined sofa is often enough to tip a room towards intimacy, without ever weighing it down.
How do you choose the one piece that truly feels like you?
Decorating your home is, first and foremost, telling a story: yours. Before looking at trends, flip through your family albums and revisit the places that marked you: a seaside trip, an outing with friends under the olive trees, or that childhood home with ochre walls. The most successful interiors don't follow fashion; they capture the essence of the people who live in them.
That thread is what should guide your choice of a cement tile or a zellige: whatever feels like you, because trends pass, while that stays. A home that reflects your personality becomes a refuge, a space where you feel fully at home. Minimalism is measured by the room you give to what truly matters: one heritage piece chosen with the heart is worth more than a multitude of decorative touches with no connection to your story.
In the end, the secret lies less in the number of pieces than in the breathing room you give them: a Nabeul ceramic tray, an earthenware pot, a hand-woven cushion: each carries a precise story, and it's that precision that keeps a living room from tipping into soulless décor or heritage clutter. Choose one piece, live with it, leave the rest bare: heritage thrives tucked into a daily gesture far more than perched on a pedestal.
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