Flooring the competition

ENAR

When you walk into any Lebanese home built between the early 1880s and the 1940s, the first thing you are likely to notice are the intricately designed and colorful terrazzo handmade tiles underneath your feet. In a time before carpets were fashionable, these cement tiles were the chic way to give a home a unique identity and some color. Gradually, with the introduction of the more fashionable marble or granite tiles, and the machinery to mass produce them, the time consuming terrazzo style of tile making began fading into oblivion, taking with it the tile fitters and their tile laying skills. That was until 15 years ago, when Edgard Chaya found his great-grandfather’s tile laying tools. He began experimenting with them which eventually led to the formation of BlattChaya, a local company that produces luxury handcrafted colored terrazzo tiles for a global market. Chaya recounts how he spent his career