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Lebanese artisan revives mosaic tile tradition

Edgard Chaya views himself as the guardian of a fragile piece of Lebanese architectural heritage.

Lebanese tile makets
Finished floor tiles sit on display in the Blatt Chaya factory showroom in Beirut. Keeping with the Lebanese identity of the project, Edgard Chaya names his design patterns after regions and towns in Lebanon, including Zahle, Batroun and Mazraa. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]
By Adrian Hartrick
Published On 6 Aug 20166 Aug 2016
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At the robust age of 87, Edgard Chaya is reviving the tradition of handmade mosaic tiles in Lebanon.

Stubbornly resisting sizeable offers to expand and automate the production process at his company, Blatt Chaya (Chaya Tiles), he views himself as the guardian of a fragile piece of Lebanese architectural heritage that is rapidly being destroyed.

“He’s very passionate about the human element that goes into the making of his tiles; for him, there’s no point in using machines just to make more money,” Chaya’s granddaughter, Youmna, told Al Jazeera.

A mainstay of Lebanese architecture in the 19th and 20th centuries, mosaic tiles once adorned buildings across Beirut. But by the 1950s, factory-produced utilitarian flooring offered a cheaper alternative. Most tile producers, including Chaya’s great-grandfather, either closed their businesses or changed their products. During the country’s 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990, many tile-adorned buildings were destroyed.

In 1996, after stumbling across his great-grandfather’s old tile moulds, Chaya decided to restart the business. He painstakingly taught himself the craft, becoming obsessed with doing things the traditional way. It took him four years to successfully produce his first tile, but as he began producing on a small scale, a buzz began to grow around his craft.

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Two decades later, Blatt Chaya has become an internationally renowned mosaic tile producer. Given the slow, meticulous production process, the product caters to a luxury market. But for Chaya, passion for the process, rather than profit, acts as his primary driver.

“I love it more than my customers!” he declares.

Lebanese tile makets
Blatt is the Arabic word for tile. In this room, the tile sand is coloured using only natural pigments. All of his tiles are biodegradable, Chaya says. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]
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Lebanese tile makets
A Blatt Chaya tile artisan removes the metal mould from a freshly poured tile. During this step, the different colours seep against each other to fill the spaces left by the mould, which can sometimes lead to blemishes. "Everybody wants my tiles with mistakes ... but I don't make [them] deliberately," Chaya says. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]
Lebanese tile makets
A tile artisan places a freshly poured tile into the manual press to give it its final shape. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]
Lebanese tile makets
A tile artisan sprinkles dry sand over a freshly moulded tile. The sand soaks up the moisture from the mould, helping to solidify the tile's shape before it is pressed. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]
Lebanese tile makets
A Blatt Chaya employee shaves the bottom off of a newly made tile. Depending on whether a tile is used on a floor or a wall, the thickness varies. These tiles are being prepared for mounting on a wall. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]
Lebanese tile makets
A Blatt Chaya employee polishes a freshly made tile. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]
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Lebanese tile makets
Chaya enjoys a pipe in his office. He adamantly says that he enjoys the human element of Blatt Chaya and has no interest in expanding or automating his production process. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]
Lebanese tile makets
A Blatt Chaya tile artisan pours a sand-based cement mixture into a tile mould. This is one of the trickiest parts of the process. Everything from the angle to the consistency of the pour can affect the final product. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]
Lebanese tile makets
Blatt Chaya employees work in the factory's main production room. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]
Lebanese tile makets
A stack of freshly polished tiles lies on the Blatt Chaya factory floor, awaiting packing and shipment. Blatt Chaya tiles have adorned buildings and houses as far away Europe and the United States. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]
Lebanese tile makets
A Blatt Chaya tile artisan prepares to pour a red cement mixture into a waiting tile mould. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]
Lebanese tile makets
Finished tiles sit on display in the Blatt Chaya showroom. The thickness of the white on the edge of this tile is typical of most old Lebanese tiles. However, Chaya prefers to have the white (or design) portion of the tile thicker, allowing it to be polished more and giving it more longevity. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]
Lebanese tile makets
The Blatt Chaya factory is in an industrial area of the Beirut suburb of Jdeideh. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]
Lebanese tile makets
A traditional tile floor adorns a house in Beirut's Achrafieh neighbourhood. While apartments like these are still ubiquitous in Beirut, they are fast disappearing as old buildings are demolished to make room for more profitable projects. [Adrian Hartrick/Al Jazeera]


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