Moroccan rugs: pile, flatweave and rag

Pile rugs

Knotted pile rugs have a thick, soft surface. The best known come from the Beni Ourain, a group of Amazigh tribes in the Middle Atlas: deep, undyed ivory wool crossed by dark lines that form diamonds and grids.

Rugs from the Azilal area of the High Atlas are usually freer and more colourful, with patterns that can look like personal drawings. Each region, and each weaver, has her own habits of colour, density and design.

Flatweaves

Flatweaves have no pile: the pattern is made by the weft threads themselves, so the textile is thin, light and often reversible. In Morocco they are often called hanbel. They serve as blankets, floor covers and wall hangings, and their bands of colour and fine geometric motifs show the weaver’s skill directly.

Rag rugs

Boucherouite rugs are made from strips of recycled textiles: old clothes, cotton and synthetic fabrics. They spread in the 20th century, when wool became expensive or scarce for some families, and they are often bright and improvised.

Reading a rug

It is tempting to give every motif a fixed meaning, but there is no single dictionary of Moroccan rug symbols. Patterns are passed down, adapted and invented, and many weavers work from memory rather than from a drawing. The most reliable reading is the weaver’s own.

Where to see them

In Marrakech, Dar Si Said, a late-19th-century palace, reopened in 2018 as the National Museum of Weaving and Carpets. It was damaged in the September 2023 earthquake, so check whether it is open before you go. Weaving cooperatives in the Atlas also welcome visitors and sell directly.

From the loom to three designs

Three designs come from the loom. Nine Lives. One Way. turns a knotted wool rug into a travelling cat. Ground Control Lost Me folds a woven rug into a paper aeroplane. Warp Speed turns a loom and its flatweave into a hang-glider.