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Where Artistry Begins
A three day 1 to 1 tadelakt course at our training centres in Birmingham, London and Manchester. Learn the stone and the soap that make Moroccan lime water resistant, and the timing that decides whether it works.
The tadelakt course teaches one of the oldest waterproofing methods still in use, and it is taught at our training centres in Birmingham (the Zavoré Academy), London and Manchester by working applicators who burnish tadelakt for clients. It is a slow, physical, entirely hand made craft, so the course suits people who want to learn it properly, whether they are decorators, plasterers, builders, designers or homeowners.
Tadelakt is Moroccan lime plaster with a high proportion of fine limestone, applied in two thin coats and then compressed with a smooth stone. The compression is the material. Olive oil soap is worked in afterwards, and it reacts with the lime to leave a water repellent skin, with no film or sealer on top. The course is about that stone and that soap, and about the moment between them.
Expect to be physically tired by the afternoon. The stone work is the hardest part of any lime finish we teach, and the short window is why tadelakt is priced as labour more than as material.
Tadelakt is taught on 1 to 1 Training, which is 3 days from 10am to 5pm at £1,500 for any level. Because you have a tutor beside you for all three days, the first burnish happens early and then you repeat it until your hand knows the moment. You decide the emphasis, whether that is curved walls, basins and niches, or the soap and the aftercare.
Book online, or hold the bench with half (£750) by phone on 07592 929191 or by email to sales@zavore.co.uk, with the balance paid on the day. Dates are agreed with you after booking and the Academy dates are on the training page. Teams and businesses can ask about private training for a group.
The tadelakt course runs at our three training centres, in Birmingham, London and Manchester, at the same price. Burnishing has a short window, so you repeat it on your own panels until you can feel when the lime is ready, whichever centre you choose. Choose London if you live in London or the South East, Manchester if you are in the North West, and Birmingham if you are in the Midlands, or pick the centre that is easiest for you to reach. You choose the centre and your dates when you book, by phone on 07592 929191 or by email to sales@zavore.co.uk.
If you are travelling to Birmingham, there is a partner hotel rate near the Zavoré Academy (quote Zavoré when you book), and pickups can be arranged for a price that depends on where you arrive.
Afterwards you can order tadelakt, finishing soap and Marseille soap through the shop at trade pricing. The trade page sets out how that works, and the helpline is there when your first bathroom raises a question about the wall behind the lime.
Bathroom specialists and builders who want a finish with no grout to blacken and no silicone to peel will find a new offer here. Plasterers already working with lime renders understand the base, and decorators who like slow tactile work do well. Designers learn what the finish looks like in the hand and what it asks of the room. Homeowners can learn the soap routine that keeps a tadelakt bathroom well.
You can read about the finish on the tadelakt page. If you would rather have a bathroom burnished for you, our own artisans offer tadelakt installation across the UK.
Tadelakt sits among the lime and mineral finishes taught at our three training centres. These are the other courses.
Three days, 10am to 5pm, taught 1 to 1 at the training centre you choose. Burnishing has a short window and takes practice, so the days are built around repeating it on your own panels until you can feel when the lime is ready for the stone.
You can learn the finish that goes into one. Your panels cover the render, the burnishing and the soaping. The wall behind a shower still has to be tanked and correctly rendered, and we talk through that system so you know what to ask for or build before any lime goes on.
Yes. The tadelakt course runs at our training centres in Birmingham (the Zavoré Academy), London and Manchester, at the same price. London suits London and the South East, Manchester suits the North West, and Birmingham suits the Midlands. You choose the centre and your dates when you book. There is a partner hotel rate near the Birmingham Academy if you need to stay, and pickups can be arranged there.
No. The course takes any level, and students can be decorators, builders, designers or homeowners. Tadelakt is slow, physical and tactile, so patience and a feel for the material matter more than a trade background.
To book the tadelakt course, or to ask which parts of a bathroom job you would like to learn, call 07592 929191 or email sales@zavore.co.uk.
Courses run at our training centres in Birmingham, London and Manchester, 10am to 5pm, with every material and tool provided. Call or email to agree your dates, or book online.
Call 07592 929191, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm, or email sales@zavore.co.uk.
Rather have it done for you? See our installations, or buy the materials in the shop with tracked UK delivery.
Providing luxury finishes for the most prestigious addresses in the world
Venetian plaster, limewash, microcement, tadelakt, metallics, sculptural plaster and gold leaf, supplied and installed by our own team, with Venetian plaster taught at our Birmingham studio.
One list, run by the people who make the material. No noise, and nothing we would not want to read ourselves.
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