Recognizing a Berber Carpet
Origin and Manufacturing of Berber Wool Rug
Berber carpets, woven mainly in the Rif and Western Sahara regions, are works of art from northern Africa.
These pieces are the fruit of the meticulous work of women artisans, embodying a fight for the preservation of artisanal heritage. Using mainly sheep's wool, but also goat's and lamb's wool, scraps of fabric, these rugs are characterized by their varied color palette or their Scandinavian sobriety, decorated with distinctive patterns: lines, triangles, squares.
The Berber Carpet
The wool Berber carpet embodies the rich cultural and historical heritage of Morocco.
Present in a variety of religious and social contexts, this craft bears witness to an ancestral tradition, deeply rooted in the country's history.
These are the women who weave Moroccan Berber carpets.
Berber women play the central role in weaving Moroccan rugs, a tradition passed down from generation to generation.
Despite the underestimation of their work, these women play a crucial role in the Moroccan rural economy. Weaving retains a symbolic and economic value, improving family income.
To determine the authenticity of a Berber wool rug, it is appropriate to ask yourself a few questions: what is the true nature of Berber rugs? Is their manufacturing limited to Morocco? How to distinguish real rugs from imitations?
Manufacturing Process and Materials
Handcrafted from premium wool, these rugs go through several stages of manufacturing, from wool selection, to wool spinning and weaving on traditional looms.
Atlas sheep provide wool recognized for its unparalleled quality, contributing to the durability and elegance of Berber rugs.
Criteria for Recognition of an Authentic Berber Carpet
The authenticity of a Berber carpet is based on its structure, its colors, its feel and the materials used. The specificities of each Berber tribe, at the origin of these carpets, also play a crucial role in their identification. The price reflects the quality and authenticity (remember that it takes several women between 15 days and 1 month to make a single rug!), warning against industrial imitations which threaten ancestral know-how.
We sometimes see “Berber rugs” on online sales sites even though they are industrial products. At a minimum, some use ''Berber style'', which is a more appropriate term.
Quality control carpet weaving
It is therefore the feel of the carpet, the quality of its wool, its imperfections, its irregular knotting, which will mark its authenticity.
Fringes or not?
It is customary to say that a Berber carpet with fringes on both sides is not a real Berber carpet. True and false.
Traditionally, the method of weaving Azilal, Beni Ouarain, M'rirt carpets... means that there are fringes on one side and not the other. Like all Moroccan rugs, they only have fringes on one side. The women who weave carpets make knots when they start weaving, and fringes on the side where they stop their work. Seeing a wool rug like this largely indicates its authenticity. Be careful, however, if a rug has no fringe at all or fringes on both sides simply means that either the fringes have been removed or they have been added.
Whether or not a Berber rug should have fringes depends largely on the specific style of the rug and personal preference.
Traditional style vs. Modern: Traditional rugs are more likely to have fringes, as they are an integral part of the weaving method. Modern rugs, on the other hand, can omit the fringes for a more streamlined look.
Wool
Wool remains a blessed material and considered a gift from heaven in Morocco. It is she who promotes the fame of Moroccan Berber carpets.
Wools of different qualities
There are different qualities of wool, different spinning qualities of wool, different colors.
We will distinguish in natural unprocessed, untinted quality. The wool from shearing the back is of better quality compared to the wool from the bottom of the sheep which will be dirtier, with bits of grass, earth (this wool from the bottom will be used to make the spinning for the weft of the carpet).
Next comes the quality of the wool itself with higher quality wool in some areas of Morocco compared to other areas.
The natural color of the wool will also be important: there will be whiter wools that are more sought after and others that are less white and less sought after.
The colors of laine
The ideal is to make a rug uniquely with the natural color of the laine: on you will find the white, the white, the beige, the light brown, the deep brown, the black. D'avoir de laine naturelle en marron foncée ou noir n'est pas facile car en va u ver peu de moutons avec de laine foncée, à part sur certaines zones limitées du corps.
For bright colors: blue, orange, yellow, pink, red, green, you will have to go through the wool dyeing stage.
For earth colors, some wools are dyed with natural dyes such as those from Walnut.
Wool spinning
There will be wool threads that are less tight and will resist tension less than wool that has been spun tightly and will have greater resistance to tension. Wool from the underside of sheep (of lower quality) is often used to make the very fine threads which will serve as a weft for the manufacture of Berber carpets. Once spun into very fine threads, these threads are in the form of a ball.
Photo: wool thread used to make the weft of the Berber carpet.
Carpet Weaving
Behind a rug, there is a whole story. This is not a rug made from a simple machine. A Moroccan woman will work all day in her weaving space (60 cm to 1 m) in an uncomfortable sitting position, and sometimes with a baby on her back.
They stop at noon for lunch and then get back to work. A Berber carpet takes, as we have seen, between fifteen days to two months depending on the size of the carpet.
Several Artisan Women making a Berber carpet
Depending on the emergency demand of the carpet, there may be a woman weaving every 60 cm. In general, there is one woman per meter of weaving. Which means that on a standard 1.50 m carpet, there will be between two to three women who will weave the carpet.
Let us then relate the price of a Berber carpet to the fatigue, to the time spent, to the sacrifices made by these women, to understand the true human value of a Moroccan Berber carpet.
Maximum size of a Berber carpet
The maximum width of a Berber carpet will be 4 m to 5 m maximum. In terms of length, there is no size limit for a Berber rug.
The manufacture of a Moroccan Berber carpet remains artisanal. Deviations of 3 to 5 cm are common on a carpet and these deviations can be up to 10 cm.
Lifespan of a Berber Rug
He will survive you!
The Berbers pass on carpets from generation to generation. This is a very long term purchase. Manufacturing takes a long time, this is the time for exceptional quality.
A rug with a Soul
When you invest in a Moroccan Berber rug, you acquire much more than just a decorative object. You hold a true work of art imbued with the history and know-how of the Berber weaver who meticulously made it. Each thread, each pattern tells a part of its history, its culture and its heritage. Thus, each Berber carpet becomes the palpable testimony of the dedication and passion of these women who devoted hours of hard work to it. Looking at these rugs, you will never be able to look at them the same way again; you will invariably find yourself thinking about these artisans who invested their body and soul into each piece.