KASBAH Moroccan Decor is Closed Till September 2024
Moroccan Rugs and Kilim
Appreciated for their exciting colour combinations and individual but distinctive designs, Moroccan rural rugs are all unique works of art.
Area Rugs and Kilim Background
When the Berbers came to North Africa around 1500 B.C. they brought with them primitive weaving techniques which developed over the millennia into the complex techniques required for their prestigious traditional textiles. The loom is still an important possession in traditional Moroccan homes today.
Moroccan Carpets are the county's largest craft export and make up close to half of all Moroccan crafts. In recent years Moroccan FLAT WEAVE and PILE RUGS have become recognized by scholars and collectors for the complexity and skill of their weaving. Unlike rugs from Central Asia and the Middle East, Moroccan rugs, uniquely free from Anatolian influence, are prized for their individuality. Each rug is a unique work of art and the expression of the individual weaver's creativity, repetition in design reduces its value.
At Kasbah we concentrate on the Rural rugs from the Berber Tribes of the Atlas Mountains and the Berber-Arab Tribes of the plains of Marrakesh. Although each rug is unique, Moroccan Rural rugs are distinctive in their color, design and weave. They are identified by region and tribe (of which there are over 600) although more recent intermarriage between tribes results in blurring of the boundaries.
Traditionally, rural rugs are woven from hand spun fleece or of goat or camel hair, hand dyed from natural vegetable and mineral sources available locally. The strong tradition of family weaving still thrives today; skilled weavers being highly respected within the community and for many rural peoples they provide the single luxury items in the home.
Modern rugs are still made using traditional techniques on fixed-heddle looms although the majority incorporate some commercially produced synthetic dyes and may have a cotton foundation (warp and weft threads) which generally produces a straighter rug. The most prized rugs, however, are 100% wool, goat or camel hair.
The materials Berber rugs are made from, together with the freedom of design, result in products of unparalleled richness and beauty which cannot fail to enhance any home.
Rural Rugs
...are commonly recognised as knotted or pile rugs and flat weaves or hanbels (also referred erroneously to as kilims) although many combine the two techniques.
PILE WEAVE is a technique in which knots are tied around pairs of longitudinal warp threads, or as in the case of the very special Berber Knot four warp threads. The knots are packed tightly into place between the woven rows of the weft and the knotted strands are then either cut to the required length of pile or left as uncut loops. Individual tribes use a number of specific knotting techniques. These rugs are traditionally used pile side up for sleeping on.
Berber FLAT WEAVES encompass several techniques which include the complex traditional compound weave known as 'Weft Substitution'. which produces a double sided textile. Complementary wefts alternatively combine with the warp in a plain weave and form loops and loose ends on the other side of the fabric. Up to six different colours make up each set of wefts in short lengths of threads and result in an intricate multicoloured design on the opposite face. This technique requires great skill to produce, the complex geometric designs being worked from the back side of the rug. Moroccan weavers have developed this technique over and above all other weavers producing prestigious rugs with incredible detail over their entirety.
