The Azilal rug or Azilal Berber rugs, as the name suggests, originate from the rugged Berber region of Azilal, located in the remote and very difficult to access High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, south of the city. Beni Mellal and about 180 km northeast of Marrakech.
Reserved exclusively for women from this region of Morocco, they are made by alternating patterns composed of a knotted line and one or two lines woven from virgin raw wool, according to a cultural ritual passed down from mother to daughter for generations.
Are often associated with Azilal rugs, there are Moroccan rugs called Ourika rugs which are in fact all the rugs produced a little further south by the tribes of the High Atlas from Demnate in the North to Imlil in the South, thus covering the mountainous region of Ait Ourir, the Ourika Valley and the Oukaimeden Park.
Often found in Azilal rugs are color additions based on wool dyed with vegetable dyes or based on colored cotton yarn or even recycled fabrics. The background of these Berber rugs is of virgin natural wool is ivory/cream.
Azilal carpets are works where each woman tells her story, the themes of the motifs being rural life, motherhood, birth. The weavers therefore appropriate the tribal signs of their ancestors to express their marriage, their pregnancy, their daily life.
These Berber rugs are not made for commercial or profit but for family use to face the cold of the High Atlas. Currently, in Western countries, in addition to their use as Moroccan carpets, they are widely used in interior decorations as magnificent wall decorations or design elements.
Fruits of the imagination of the knotter, veritable works of art comparable to abstract paintings, Azilal rugs are rare and were almost unknown on the market until the 1990s. From Paris to the USA and Tokyo, numerous galleries now exhibited as works of art, their originality and their immense graphic force have deeply inspired many artists such as: Matisse, Paul Klee or Le Corbusier.
Jean-Yves SEVESTRE, recognized expert, specialized in Berber rugs in Marrakech offers one of the widest selections of Azilal rugs.
Lover and passionate about Berber carpets, the Azilal region in Morocco is one of his favorite destinations. Very involved in fair trade, he supports several associations of weavers in order to market their Berber carpets, promote them and make them known to the Western world.
It thus allows many women to have a little money of their own; Indeed in these Berber families, the woman does not have access to the money which is reserved for the head of the family. They can thus afford what they want and they are proud to produce true masterpieces, thus preserving the identity of this human heritage.
