Answers to your every ‘how’d they do
that?’ are on display at state-run
Ensemble Artisanals, where you can
watch mâalem s at work and
purchase their handiwork at fixed (if
somewhat stiff) prices.Fair-
Trade
Carpet
Showrooms
» » Jemaite Tifawin
Carpet Cooperative,
Anzal
» » Cooperative
Feminin de Tissage Aït
Bououli, Aït Bououli
» » Kasbah Myriem,
Midelt
» » Coopérative de
to spend on a wall hanging for Aunt Gladys.
» » Tread cautiously with antique rugs. Prices are typically much higher for antique carpets. Genuine antiques can be hard to
distinguish from rugs taken out back and stomped on awhile, so buyer beware.
» » Inspect the knots. You’ll be asked to pay more for carpets with a higher number of knots per sq cm, which you’ll begin to
discern by examining the back of carpets to look for gaps between knots. Some carpets are washed in hot water to bind the
wool together more tightly, like that time you put your cashmere cardigan in the dryer – but you can often distinguish these
shrunken rugs by their misshapen, irregular borders.
» » Get plenty of vegetables. Prices are often higher for carpets whose wool is coloured using vegetable dyes (which tend to
fade faster) instead of synthetics; you can usually tell these by their muted tones, and the carpet seller may be able to tell you
what plant was used to make the dye.
» » Enjoy the transaction. Be prepared to banter before you bargain, keep your sense of humour, come back tomorrow, and
drink mint tea so sweet you’ll want to brush your teeth twice. Besides fond memories, at the end of it all you should have a
carpet that suits you.Textiles
Anything that isn’t nailed down in Morocco is likely to be woven, sewn or embroidered – and
even then, it might be upholstered. Moroccan women are the under-recognised mâalem s of
Moroccan textiles, and the tradition they’ve established has recently helped attract emerging
fashion enterprises and global brands to Morocco. One-third of Moroccan women are now
employed in Morocco’s industrial garment industry, but for meticulous handiwork with individual
flair, check out these traditional textile handicrafts.
Embroidery
Moroccan stitchery ranges from simple Berber designs to
minutely detailed terz Fezzi , the elaborate nature-inspired
patterns stitched in blue upon white linen that women in Fez
traditionally spent years mastering for their dowries. Rabati
embroidery is a riot of colour, with bold, graphic flowers in one
or two colours of silk thread that almost completely obscures
the plain-cotton backing. But the ladies of Salé also deserve
their due for their striking embroidery in one or two bold colours along the borders of crisp
white linen. Though you might not be able to bring yourself to wipe your mouth or nose on
anything this spectacular, it makes a lovely pillow case or table runner – and accident-prone
dinner guests don’t have to know why they’re being served white wine with their steaks.
Passimenterie
What’s that guy doing with a blow-dryer and silk thread in front of a
mosque? That would be a passimenterie (trims) mâalem at work, using a
repurposed blow-dryer to spin thread from a nail stuck in the wall, until it’s
the perfect width and length to make into knotted buttons, silken tassels,
and snappy jellaba trim. In a cupboard-sized Moroccan passimenterie
shop, you’ll find enough gold braid to decorate an army of generals and
more tassels than a burlesque troupe could spin in a lifetime – but you’ll
also find a jackpot of small, portable gifts. Moroccan mâalems have made
a stand-alone art of trimming, wrapping wire and washers with silk thread
to create mod statement necklaces, napkin-ring holders, knotted keychains
and curtain-pulls.