Berber Rugs : Beni Ourain & Kilim Rugs, What's Their Story ?

The story of Berber Rugs

In Morocco, we find two races of populations different but very homogeneous and which live in harmony for decades. The Berbers, who are the first inhabitants of Morocco constitute a big part of the population. Then, the Arabs, come from Andalusia, from the east and from other Arabic communities to the world.

 At the level of the demographic distribution, the big part of the Moroccan Berbers lives in the rural area in the countryside, Mountains of atlas Moroccan, tribes, village, etc. Without forgetting the nomads whom we find frequently in the South.

The Berbers very fast adapted themselves to the difficulties of the rural life and worried by professions by small business crafts assured first of all by competent Berber women and sloggers.

These women, according to the Berber customs, can work only in their homes next to their children. The man works in the agriculture of lands and raising sheep, goat and cows were its daily tasks. Among these jobs which exercise the women, the manufacturing of carpets. The Berber carpet and or weaved or sets. The knotted carpet is established from the accumulation of a multitude of knots on vertical wefts hung on the job (wooden traditional machine).

The woven carpet, or called kilim, is mounted by horizontal weaving and clamping on the vertical frame and doing back and forth horizontally between the screen lines.

The Berber women, who are the maneuvering leaders of the Moroccan carpet, spend weeks and sometimes months setting up a carpet. This time is justified by other household and family tasks that Berber women take.

It is only after a long day of work, raising the children, preparing to eat and then carrying out the home, that the Berber women go to their crafts set up in one of the narrow rooms of their houses to weave or tie mats. In general, the average time of weaving or knotting is two hours per day for each woman.

In Morocco, the type of designs differs by region, in every tribe you can find unique Moroccan rugs.

At the high Atlas, 150 km far from Ouarzazate, Taznakht region, you can find Berber Moroccan rug handmade of pure sheep wool in a multitude of natural colors. Red hate, saffron yellow, white and brown are the natural colors of sheep.

In this same region of Taznakht, you can distinguish that there are rugs that do not look like each other. And this, because Taznakht contains several tributes like "Aït Ouagharda" and "Aït Abdallah", each of them has its specific Berber designs. However, with experience, you can just see the carpet to find out where it comes from.

in the Middle Atlas Mountains, the region of Khénifra, there are more plain carpets knotted wool. The red color is dominant because it gives off heat. The carpets in this region are very thick and heavy. The harsh weather conditions in winter have pushed the Berber women of the middle atlas to make rugs that warm homes.

Kilim Rugs

In other Moroccan regions, such as Khemissate, Tiffelt, and Zemmour, we find unique Berber rug, handwoven and embroidered Kilim.

 The kilim rug of Tiffelt is the most famous in Morocco because of the fineness of its geometric designs and its indigo blue color. We recall in this sense that the comparison between two knotted carpets is distinguished by the number of knots per square meter contained in the carpet. In the kilim rug, it is the fineness of the drawing and the quality of the tightening that matters.

Azilal Rugs

The Azilal rugs, this Berber rugs is handmade in small villages in the region of Azilal in the middle Atlas mountains. This carpet is of a very special knotting quality, the Azilal rugs known by the Berber design and colors that the weavers use in the carpet.

They inspire the colors from nature, daily life in the farm and while they are raising children. They use colors based on their mood if the weaver is happy she will express happiness in the carpet.

Beni Ourain rug 

Beni ourain rug, the origin of the name come from a small tribe in the Middle Atlas Mountain in the region of Taza. A small tribe called Beni Ourain, it’s known for the good quality of the sheep, that what makes their rugs made from best quality of natural wool.

This Beni ourain tribe uses "live wool" - that is wool shorn from a sheep, rather than taken from a sheepskin after the sheep have been killed. The main characteristic of a Beni Ouarain rug is the "shaggy" pile. This makes them very comfortable underfoot and they are much sought after for use in winter.