With geometric and expressive patterns, this Moroccan rug transforms a floor into a painting. Enjoy the warmth of the vibrant yet soothing colours of this work of art in any room or hallway of your home; feel the satisfaction of owning a piece made of 100% natural material and dyes, and appreciate the hard work of a women who spent a month creating this piece on her own.
All colours found in this rug are all-natural dyes. The yellow is from the natural saffron, the red from henna, the blue from indigo, green from the wild mint, burgundy from pomegranate, and the white is made of wool from sheep that live in the Atlas mountains altitudes as high as 10,000 feet. All other colours are created from a mix of more than one of the natural dyes.Morocco's Berber Tribal Rugs Offer A Different View Of Oriental Carpets When the motifs, often based on diamond shapes, change size and sometimes orientation. And the symmetry is deliberately never perfect.
The result is something that not only looks sui-generis. Often, it feels that way, too. That is because many of the Atlas pile weavings are unusually soft and flexible. They call to mind blankets a much as they do carpets – a light quality which makes them practical for mountain life.
Ancient Berber beliefs, which survive alongside Islam, also find their way into the rugs. Some tribes will burn the fringes of their carpets to make them less attractive to the demon of envy. It is part of their belief the quality of life and their desire to invoke positive power, or Baraka, to ward off evil.
Baraka is thought to exist to some degree in all things and artists try to transfer it to their creations through a whole vocabulary of symbols and techniques to protect themselves, their work, and the consumer.
The best place to buy the tribal pieces is from the tribes themselves. But as Western interest in weaving from the Atlas Mountains has grown since the 1970s – and the renewal of curiosity about tribal art worldwide – the rugs also have become a staple of the shops in Rabat, Marrakesh, and Fez.
In these cities at the foot of the mountains, some workshops have even begun producing Berber-type designs. The workshop products tend to be heavier and hold to the floor better than the tribal pieces as they aim directly for the Western interior design market.
Interestingly, Morocco has a long-standing workshop tradition – but not for Berber carpets. Instead, the tradition is for Turkish designs and it dates back to northern Morocco’s long period under the Ottoman Empire from the 16th to late 19th century. The style was loosely modelled on the famous Anatolians from Gordes and Ladik, among other Turkish weaving centres.
These ‘city rugs’ from Rabat and Casablanca do not enjoy much critical acclaim. They are often described as coarsely woven imitations in bold colours that are not likely to please fans of the Turkish originals. But some of the designs offer unusual local twists and they are a historical curiosity.
Older pieces are likely to include cochineal reds from the days when, beginning in the late 18th century, was one of the main centres outside of Central America for farm-raising insects for dye. Now, such rugs are one-of-a-kind because chemical dyes have long since replaced insect dyes and other natural dyes in all Moroccan weaving.
These days, Moroccan city carpets are moving from Turkish designs to Persian-like medallion patterns in a new bid to compete in the world market.
But the strength of the country’s weaving remains, as ever, in its Berber traditions. If the Berber weavers return to natural colours, just as village and tribal weavers are now doing in many other parts of the world, Morocco’s tribal pieces could well gain the greater notice they deserve.
That's why you will only find the finest Berber rugs on our site as we have an ethical and fair trade principal based in the heart of Berber area and only genuine Berber and Sahrawian women has weaved the carpets in our purpose built weaving house.
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