MOROCCAN SUNSET - BOUCHEROUITE & BENI OURAIN RUGS

We offer chic vintage Moroccan rugs that conform to the minimalist style so popular today.

We are manufacturers of leather goods but now we also specialize in the luxurious vintage  Beni Ourain (the style, talent and creative energy of weavers who live in the Beni Ourain mountains ) and Boucherouite hand loomed rugs .

Contemporary, timeless and delightfully abstract, our hand-selected collection of Boucherouite and Beni Ourain epitomize the deluxe minimalist style that made regional rugs highly sought after design embellishments with Le Corbusier and the modernists.

THE BOUCHEROUITE rug is made for domestic use out of recycled scraps of nylon, cotton, and 

AZILAL style

sometimes wool. The weaver's loom can become the ground of a passionate struggle between self-expression and the chaos of the unconscious, between the life-force of kinship ties and ancient traditions and the trials of modern life.

In small villages in the southern regions of Morocco, the women paint their hands and feet with abstract saffron-colored motifs, wear ornate dramatic jewelry, and weave carpets that are expressive of profound emotion - at once unconscious and spiritual, archetypal and primal, tribal and symbolic. In the often economically and culturally isolated, provincial homes where the boucherouite is made, the domestic culture is curiously supportive of the weaver's total freedom of expression through her craft.

✿ ART

The pulsing life of these rugs is found in the meandering lines and colour, in the pointillist movements, and in the almost lyrical play of form and space. Striking, unconventional compositions reflect all the joy and drama and sublime spirituality of small town life. But also, the close proximity to nature.

The most radical, abstract boucherouite styles are reminiscent of a Saharan oasis at dawn, an Atlas mountain sunrise or sunset, a glistening mountain stream in the late afternoon, a walk along a craggy path to the village well, or a spiritual reflection. The colours of earth and sunlight are loosely interwoven with subtle harmonies and splashes of surprisingly bold contrasts.

The weaver’s sub-conscious play with the changing mood and light of her surroundings can been seen in the most exquisite examples of the boucherouite. As in the finest examples of modern art, the boucherouite rug presents a kind of direct relationship between the outer world and emotional sensitivities of the weaver. Releasing her passions at the head of a loom, the Berber woman often employs intensely resonant colours.

The effect is modern art. Bright, synthetic colour becomes a means of personal expression, for describing the tribal weaver's environment, as well as for expressing her emotions. Large blocks of nonsensical colour incur a deliberate sense of mood, which is then interspersed by the playfulness of pointillist dots, cubes, and rectangles. The best boucherouite rug blends shape, form, and light to create a harmonious aesthetic that has a calming, yet surprising, and often disorienting, impact. 

For this reason the boucherouite rises above the simple rag rug “like grandma used to make” to the level of modern art - expressive, decorative, and awesome! The boucherouite has begun to beguile artists and collectors all over the world. 

Click on this video link to watch the Famille Essalhi making a boucherouite - Creating A Hand Loomed Boucherouite

The infinite expression and richness of joyful emotion and the celebration of a simple life,
is the visual poetry inter-woven into each boucherouite.  The weaver creates a light-filled atmosphere through a direct relationship with nature and its rhythms, and by tapping into that creative well within that allows her to express herself in her work. The most striking of boucherouite rugs are labours of love which display the cost to the weaver in creating such a masterpiece.

BENI OURAIN

✿ SHIPPING
Rugs ship safely and securely, with tracking, from Marrakesh, Morocco. All rugs are hand washed before shipping. They are then dried in the Marrakesh sun. So please allow about a week or so for us to prepare your rug after purchase. Transit time is 3 days to 2 ½ weeks, depending on mode of transport and location, so you can expect to receive your order within 30 days from the purchase date.

✿ CUSTOMS
It is important for you to understand that all import duties, taxes, and charges are the buyer's responsibility and are not included in the sale price of the rug. Prior to purchasing, please enquire with the customs office in your country to determine what additional cost may incur. All rugs ship direct from Marrakech, Morocco.