i. A tribal map

The Berber carpet does not exist in the singular. It is, in reality, a bundle of tribal traditions, each with its motifs, its colours, its formats, its rituals. The geography of Morocco can be read in the carpets as one reads a map.

Three great zones:

• Middle Atlas and Meknès-Rabat: Zemmour, Zaër, Zaïane, Beni Mtir, Aït Sgougou, Beni M'guild tribes.
• Middle Atlas, Fès and Taza: Beni Ouarain (17 tribes), Aït Ighezzrane, Beni Alaham, Aït Halli, Aït Youssi, Aït Seghrouchéne, Marmoucha, Aït Youb, Aït Izdeg, Aït Yaâqoub.
• Central High Atlas: tribes of Azilal, Aït Ouaouzguite, Ourika.

ii. The great styles

Beni Ouarain

The best known. Cream-white ground (undyed natural wool of the Marmoucha sheep), black or dark-brown motifs: interlocking diamonds, lattices, chevrons, tribal symbols. Long, dense pile, average thickness 2.5 cm. Made by the women of the confederation of the 17 Beni Ouarain tribes, in the area of the Tazekka national park, between Guercif, Taza and Sefrou.

Azilal

Comes from the High Atlas, Azilal province in the Béni Mellal-Khénifra region. White ground scattered with vivid motifs — red, ochre, indigo, sometimes fluorescent — on alternating knotted and woven lines. Reserved for women according to a transmitted ritual. A flatter, more supple weave than the Beni Ouarain.

Mrirt

Béni Mellal-Khénifra, central Middle Atlas. The densest weave of all, with a silky wool of pearly sheen. Washed and rubbed after weaving to obtain that velvet texture. It is the prestige carpet par excellence.

Boucherouite

Born in the mid-20th century in modest families who could not afford wool. Bou Charouet — "the father of rags". Cotton weft, knots of recycled fabrics, worn clothes, sheets, scraps of silk. Spontaneous, joyful, poetic colours.

Kilim

Flat-woven, without knots. Zemmour and Boujaad regions of the Middle Atlas. Reversible, lighter, with fine rectilinear and geometric motifs.

Boujaad

Rural carpets, more rustic than the Beni Ouarain, with dominant red and orange tones, open motifs.

iii. A weaving ritual

Making a carpet is a precise ritual. Everything begins with the wool, purified before being dyed with natural pigments (henna for red, indigo for blue, madder, barks, saffron). The wool is then left under the open sky for a whole night to ward off the evil eye — an explicitly ritual gesture that no machine can replace.

The weaving takes place on a vertical wooden loom (azetta), built at home. The tighter the weft, the higher the carpet's value. The weaver makes her own loom, her own design, her own colours. Transmission is strictly matrilineal: the grandmother, the mother, the daughter.

iv. Reading a carpet

Each motif has a meaning, sometimes forgotten, never arbitrary. The diamonds evoke fertility and the womb. The zigzags, rain and water, hence life. The chevrons, mountain ranges. The crosses, protection. The horns, strength and livestock. The spirals, the movement of the soul.

A carpet has no date — it has a memory. A young bride sometimes weaves her own story as she goes: births, mournings, journeys. The piece becomes her biography.

Each woman weaves according to her desires and her movements. This carpet is not a decorative object, it is a creation filled with history.