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The trend around the Moroccan pattern carpets is not a discovery of the millennial generation.
The French furniture designer Jean-Michel Frank, an early advocate of the minimalist interior design style, already decorated them with preference in the first half of the 20th century.
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright also laid out Berber carpets in the “Fallingwater” merchant house in Pennsylvania in the 1950s.
Until the 2000s, they were still in the shadow of the more valuable Persian carpet, perhaps also the kilim and the ironically rediscovered flokati.
The Moroccan carpets only became trendy again when the designer Jenna Lyons had a shaggy, two-meter-wide, brown-and-white carpet with a diamond pattern photographed in her townhouse in Brooklyn for the interior design magazine "Domino".
It was a Beni Ourain style model, named after the nomadic tribe from the Atlas Mountains in Morocco who made it.
The photo of her living room became one of the most shared images of all time on Pinterest.
In contrast to Persian carpets, Moroccan carpets in various styles, most of which are named after their regions of origin, can be completed in a few months.
This makes them available more quickly and cheaper to buy.
The carpets can increase in value over the years if you care for them properly and invest in the right quality.
Samira Mahboub is the founder of the Berlin carpet shop Limala.
She belongs to a group of young entrepreneurs who combine the care of Morocco's cultural heritage with the demands of Instagram buyers: sustainability, authenticity and, of course, photo suitability.
Mahbou explains what to look for when buying.
And how you can enjoy your carpet for a long time.
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ICONIST:
How do I recognize a high-quality Berber carpet?
Samira Mahboub:
Of course there are big differences in the quality and authenticity of the carpets.
To check this, you should first turn the carpet over and look closely at how it is knotted.
Machine-made carpets are absolutely flawless, all rows are knotted perfectly and the fringes at the end of the carpet are sewn on.
In the case of hand-knotted carpets, the knots on the back, which make up the high quality of the carpet, may have a few size deviations.
In addition, the tighter the carpet is, the more valuable it is.
The number of nodes is an indicator of quality, care and workload.
Limala founders: Zaid Charkaoui and Samira Mahboub
Source: Limala / Ania Catherine
ICONIST:
How can you
tell the
difference between an original and a copy?
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Mahboub:
Making a medium-sized rug takes around three weeks of work, with a daily rate of seven to eight hours.
Another essential point that shows the high quality of the carpet is the material from which the carpet is made.
Well-processed and cleaned sheep's wool is essential.
Machine-made and mass-produced carpets only use synthetic fibers made of plastic, for example polyester and polypropylene.
In addition, the carpet should not show any discoloration or crooked processing.
In some cases this can happen and we would still decide to classify the carpet as high quality.
Hands are not machines, and that's a good thing.
The imperfect is what makes the carpet so charming.
Wrapped in a “boujad”: Samira Mahboub
Source: Limala
ICONIST:
Why is it problematic to keep calling the carpets Berber carpets?
Mahboub:
The word "Berber" is actually a colonial foreign name and comes from the Greek word "barbaros" for barbaric.
It marks the Amazonian indigenous population of Morocco as barbarians.
Despite the recognition value among customers, we have decided to reject the term “Berber carpet” and the word “Berber” in general.
We refer to the Moroccan self-designation “Amazigh” for “free man” and the plural “Imazighen”.
We like to emphasize that our carpets promote sustainability and conscious consumption by investing in the principle of the Slow Manual Labor.
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ICONIST:
What are the different styles?
Mahboub:
Azilal carpets are the most popular carpets, also in our range.
The basic color of these carpets is an "off white" with colorful symmetrical or asymmetrical Amazigh and abstract symbols.
Beni Ourain carpets are a very well-known style that impresses with their minimalist designs.
Here, too, the basic color is usually the special white, the geometric diamond patterns are often designed in black or brown tones.
Boujad rugs are more colorful and have interwoven patterns that span the entire surface of the rug.
Boucheroite carpets are colorful carpets that are completely upcycled.
Boucheroites are made from old clothes and fabrics and follow the zero waste principle.
One of the most popular colors this season: a dyed “Bin Ourain” in dark orange
Source: Limala
ICONIST:
How much should a high quality carpet cost?
Mahboub:
The special thing about a handmade Moroccan rug is that it increases in value with age and can be viewed as a small investment.
You pay up to 1300 euros for the particularly high-quality vintage carpets in our range.
The prices for newly made carpets vary between 500 and 1100 euros, depending on the size.
In the case of significantly cheaper carpets, you should research more closely how much money is left with the weavers themselves and how the carpet was produced.
ICONIST:
Why not buy copies of furniture
chains
?
Mahboub:
Many furniture
chains
not only produce large quantities of machine-made carpets, but also practice cultural appropriation with regard to the patterns and styles of the carpets they have made.
We often see machine-made versions of Beni Ourain or Azilal carpets that
flood
the market in the global north for little money and without any cultural reference (
Note
from the editor
: Europe, USA, parts of Asia
).
This is very problematic from an ethical, but also from an economic point of view.
This overproduces and overconsumes, and deprives Moroccans of both cultural heritage and economic benefits.
When buying carpets from Limala, customers support those communities that are dedicated to traditional craftsmanship and thus - if we may put it cautiously - take on global responsibility by opting for manual labor and against mass production and machine work.
The most famous style: the "Azilal" carpets
Source: Limala
ICONIST:
How do you properly clean such a carpet?
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Mahboub:
You shouldn't use synthetic cleaning products as they can damage the wool.
You can vacuum the carpet with a clear conscience or remove any small carpet lint that may develop over time with a suitable carpet brush.
In the case of stains, we recommend using a small sponge dipped in lukewarm water to carefully work on the stained area with a little natural soap.
Care should be taken not to wipe from the colored part of the wool into the white part, otherwise there is a risk of discoloration.
The carpets love the sun.
If vintage carpets smell bad, which is usually not the case, they can be well ventilated and easily left in the sun for several hours.
If the smell has still not gone, you can have the carpet cleaned professionally, because going to a vintage carpet without professional expertise could be dangerous.
ICONIST:
How do you find the right size carpet?
Mahboub: We recommend
medium-sized carpets for the living room and bedroom,
i.e.
about two to 2.50 meters long and 1.40 to 1.60 meters wide.
In general, it should be ensured that the carpet size is chosen so that the carpet can lie effectively in the room, but also does not dominate it.
Carpet runners are recommended for hallways and corridors, but can also enhance the room in certain corners in the living room or bedroom.
Of course, both the kitchen and the bathroom can be decorated with carpets.
The upcycled Boucheroite carpets are particularly suitable for this.
Recycled: the “Boucheroite” carpets made from old fabrics
Source: Limala
ICONIST:
vintage or new, which is better?
Mahboub:
Vintage carpets are generally more expensive to buy.
It's a challenge to find very well-preserved ones.
They impress with their old patterns and are guaranteed to be unique.
It is not possible to duplicate a vintage carpet; in most cases, a newly made carpet can easily be knotted a second time.
Vintage carpets can be very special and have obvious signs of use.
The wool of new carpets is softer than that of old carpets, but they can be knotted just as well.
There is no decision as to which is better.
As is so often the case, that remains a matter of taste.