Flat woven

The area where the Marmoucha Berber clan, belonging to the larger Zenaga group, is not far from the imperial Moroccan city of Fes in the southern Middle Atlas. The Marmoucha are neighbours of the Beni Ouarain and that is why some of their pieces remind sometimes of the patterns and designs from the latter. Their flatweaves usually are rich in colors and tend to be quite bright and dense. The use of diamond or lozenge strings lattice of narrow black lines circling white squares is a typical old Marmoucha motif. In their knotted rugs they usually use the so-called Berber knot. 

Among the artisan textiles, knotted and flatwoven (hanbel) alike, woven by the different Berber groups living in the Moroccan Middle Atlas mountains those made by the tribe of the Beni M’Guild are, no doubt, among the most remarkable and attractive ones. To that contribute the quality of the wool, the dense decoration that plays not only with the motifs, full of meanings and symbolism, but also with superb contrast of warm colors. The result is what we may define as almost irisdecent extremely lustrous medium pile rugs,elegant, full of character and that, sooner or later, end up becoming the focus of everybody's attention. This particular vintage hanbel features a wonderful combination of colors and shades and lozenge, fish bone and zig-zag pattern. Beautiful.  

A handmade flatwoven rug or -hanbel- from the Berber tribe of the Zemmour. The Zemmour inhabit areas of the Middle Atlas mountain range in Morocco. Their flatwoven textiles are among the most reputed ones in Morocco. That is attributable not only to the quality of the materials, wool and cotton, but also to their skill, their beautiful use of reds and the vast variety of horizontal and vertical decorative motifs used that evidence the amazingly rich Berber symbology combining male, female and life elements. Very decorative and true pieces of art.

A handmade flatwoven rug or -hanbel- from the Berber tribe of the Zemmour. The Zemmour inhabit areas of the Middle Atlas mountain range in Morocco. Their flatwoven textiles are among the most reputed ones in Morocco. That is attributable not only to the quality of the materials, wool and cotton, but also to their skill, their beautiful use of reds and the vast variety of horizontal and vertical decorative motifs used that evidence the amazingly rich Berber symbology combining male, female and life elements. Very decorative and true pieces of art.

The area where the Marmoucha Berber clan, belonging to the larger Zenaga group, is not far from the imperial Moroccan city of Fes in the southern Middle Atlas. The Marmoucha are neighbours of the Beni Ouarain and that is why some of their pieces remind sometimes of the patterns and designs from the latter. Their flatweaves usually are rich in colors and tend to be quite bright and dense. The use of diamond or lozenge strings lattice of narrow black lines circling white squares is a typical old Marmoucha motif. In their knotted rugs they usually use the so-called Berber knot. 

Among the artisan textiles, knotted and flatwoven (hanbel) alike, woven by the different Berber groups living in the Moroccan Middle Atlas mountains those made by the tribe of the Beni Mguild or Beni M’Guild are, no doubt, among the most remarkable and attractive ones. To that contribute the quality of the wool, the dense decoration that plays not only with the motifs, full of meanings and symbolism, but also with superb contrast of warm colors (brown, camel, gold, red, cream, etc.) without renouncing to brighter ones. The result is what we may define as almost irisdecent extremely lustrous medium pile rugs,elegant, full of character and that, sooner or later, end up becoming the focus of everybody's attention. This particular vintage hanbel features a wonderful combination of colors and shades and lozenge, fish bone and zig-zag pattern. Beautiful.  

These Berber artisan handmade flatwoven kilim-type textiles or -hanbel- from the Valley of the Ourika in the Moroccan High Atlas are quite a discovery. That is so not only because of their beauty and originality but also because they were quite unknown to most about little more than a decade ago. They are locally known as -lahmal- or -sachou- and they are made of sheep wool.  Their most characteristic features are the horizontal stripes and, most of all, that sort of lentil or protective eye decorative motif, called -ayyour-. The oldest examples use natural undyed wool covering most of the brown palette whilst later ones introduce a richer variety of colors. But again the most distinctive element is the -ayyour- which is woven using the eccentric weft technique. That means that the warp and the weft lines do not cross perpendicularly. This technique is very seldom found in Morocco but for some rare traditional male garment used among the Aït Ouaouzguite and in some areas of the Valley of the Ourika called -akhnif-.

A superb handmade Berber rug from Talsing in Figuig, one of the eastern provinces of Morocco. Flatwoven using wool of a vast variety of vibrant colors. The outcome is as modern looking as you can see. 

A simply wonderful old Algerian flatwoven textile or -hanbel-. Wool and natural dyes. It features superb colors in a most appealling combination of stripes. Fringed. A truly rare piece worth-having in any North African textiles collection. Do not miss it!.