Moroccan rugs

Woven at home, from memory

Moroccan rugs were traditionally woven by women for their own households, as bedding, floor covers and blankets. Designs were not drawn on plans. Weavers worked from memory and passed motifs down through families.

That is why the lines wander and the shapes vary from one end of a rug to the other. The irregularity is part of the style, not a flaw.

The main types

Beni Ourain rugs come from a group of tribes in the Middle Atlas. They have a deep ivory pile with dark lines that form diamonds and lattices.

Azilal rugs, from the High Atlas, have a cream ground with bright, playful motifs in strong colors.

Boucherouite rugs are made from strips of recycled cloth instead of new wool, in loud mixed colors. Flat-woven kilims are woven in many regions and have no pile.

How they are made

Moroccan pile rugs are hand-knotted, usually with the symmetrical knot, using mountain wool rich in lanolin. Many are loosely knotted with a long pile, so they feel soft and heavy rather than fine.

Interest in Moroccan rugs grew in the mid-20th century, when modernist architects and designers brought them into European and American interiors. Older Beni Ourain pieces are now hard to find.

Buying and care

Many rugs sold as Moroccan are machine-made in other countries. A real one has knots on the back, an uneven drawing and fringe that is the end of the warp threads.

A long pile sheds at first and holds grit, so vacuum often without a beater bar and shake small rugs outside. A pad keeps a thick rug from creeping.

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