The Beni Ouarain rugs…Each rug is one of a kind!

The Beni Ouarain rugs are considered to be "the king carpets", the most prestigious from Morocco, hand woven from high quality silky wool, each piece is unique. These lush carpets find their place in all interior decorations. Beni Ouarain rugs are authentic tribal rugs entirely weaved and handknotten by the women of the tribes of Beni Ouarain and nearby villages, living in the northeast of the Middle Atlas Mountains of Morocco, more precisely in the current national park ofTazekka, a province located between the towns of Guercif, Taza and Sefrou.

Traditonal use of Beni Ouarain carpets :

The winter is icy in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains where the the lowest temperatures in Africa. To protect oneself in this environment families of the Beni Ouarain tribes, living in traditional tents, had no alternative but to produce thick carpets of high quality wool quality. Originally, Beni Ouarain rugs are not intended to have a vocation decorative but are rather a necessity dictated by the circumstances: they were traditionally used as mattresses and blankets; That's why the classic size is about 400X200 cm, which allows to sleep on the rug and fold it over. A few decades ago, the use of Beni Ouarain rugs was limited to tents and berber homes in the Middle Atlas Mountains. this was definitively broken at the beginning of the 20th century under the French protectorate. Today, Beni Ouarain rugs have become an essential part of the interior home decoration and can be found in all the interior magazines of Western countries and in all the magazines ofndecoration since the 1970s.

The wool of the Beni ouarain :

The Beni Ouarain rugs are made of virgin wool from the sheep of the Beni Ouarain herds of the tribes, it is of high quality characterized by a slight shine and golden and ivory reflections. This bio-natural wool is among others produced thanks to a rustic Berber sheep breed considered unique in the Middle East Atlas named: "Marmoucha". The Beni Ouarain tribes excel in the choice of a soft and silky wool, whose harvesting can take several years before gathering enough to weave some rugs which clearly explains the rarity and value of Beni Ouarain rugs.

Beni ouarain rugs patterns and colors :

Due to the landlocked and mountainous relief of the north-eastern Middle Atlas and contrary to the other Berber tribes, the art of weaving of the Berber tribes of Beni Ouarain has never been influenced by the decorative patterns of oriental carpets or Arabs. The Berber rugs of the Beni Ouarain have kept their tribal originality. Their design is composed of minimalist asymmetrical patterns in black or black and white. brown, and geometric shapes: rhombuses, lines, triangles. These drawings are woven on the background of natural virgin wool of ivory color. Dark brown wool sheep disappeared from Morocco in the 1980s. the old rugs beni ouarain were woven with this very brown natural wool very dark; for about forty years now, rugs have been woven with black dyed wool

Dimensions of Beni ouarain rugs :

Since the tents of the tribes of Beni Ouarain had a rectangular shape, as well as the present berber houses, whose rooms are long and narrow, the rugs that were to cover the whole of the interior space of the rooms; it is why the Beni ourain rugs, for example, tend to be much longer than they are wide. A rug more than 2.20 meters wide, can't be a real antique carpet. Beni Ouarain rugs s are often 4 meters long by 2 meters width. In order for their new dimensions to adapt perfectly to those of the contemporary Western spaces, it is possible now to find some of all the sizes..The weight can vary between 20 to 35 kgs and the height of the pile is between 25mm and 50mm.