Tips
Tadelakt: Soft Curves and Waterproof Skin
The Moroccan lime technique we use for rounded niches, vanities and shower enclosures where tile would break the line.
Tadelakt is a lime plaster from Marrakech, traditionally used in hammams, compressed and polished with stone and sealed with olive-oil soap. It is the finish we reach for when a form is curved and tile would break the line.
Its advantage is continuity. Because it is troweled and burnished rather than laid in units, it can wrap a rounded niche, a vanity front or a shower enclosure without a single joint or edge trim.
The waterproofing comes from the process rather than a coating. Compressing the lime with a river stone closes the surface, and the soap treatment reacts with the lime to form a water-repellent layer that is renewed rather than replaced over time.
It is labour-intensive and cannot be rushed. Burnishing has a narrow window — too early and the surface tears, too late and it will not close — so a bathroom is worked in planned sections across several days.
Maintenance is simple but specific: pH-neutral or traditional soap only. Acidic bathroom cleaners will etch the lime and dull the polish.
Considering a finish for your own project?
We start every project with samples made in your space, in your light.
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