About Moroccan handicraft

Marrakech, city of a thousand faces, was discovered with patience, not to miss any aspect of its more hidden secrets. It is above all a country with a rich past, where traditions are deeply rooted.

Moroccan art can be classified into two categories: urban and rural. art city is steeped in tradition imported from East or the Muslim Spain. Eastern influence is especially carpets, fabrics and embroidery while the Andalusian capital is still perceived in the arts of ceramics, metal, wood and leather. The Berber or rural arts have a more "primitive". The objects often have a utilitarian function: furniture, tools, utensils essential to daily life and some ornaments for Christmas and the community

crafts in Marrakech is rooted in tradition. Each generation passes him a new creativity and student at the cultural industries. Artisans Marrakech is not just a conservative but enrich cultural heritage and adapt to the needs of contemporary society.

Indeed, crafts in Marrakech is rich and alive. Similarly, Handicrafts Morocco are one of the fundamental characteristics of the Moroccan daily life. So Welcome to a world where material, or abundant precious awaits the hand of the artisan to be ...

The wood, metal, copper, wool, stone and clay for several centuries. Adapted to modern life, craft production Marrakesh alongside traditions, offering a wide variety of products ranging from art watermark to the most simple utensils.

The Leather:

Marrakech has countless types of leather, mostly from older traditions. In Fez and Marrakech, entire neighborhoods are reserved for tanners: Bags, in hand with accessories, babouches, poufs, clay pots covered with leather belts, saddles.

Metal:

The Marrakesh housewife uses mostly local produce copper. The metal is also used, candlesticks, appliques, moucharabieh framework for mirror items are found in Fez, Marrakech and Safi.

Wood:

the use of wood as building material is a widespread tradition which dates back to the time Idrissides, so around the seventh century. In fact, we use wood for the construction of mosques, monuments, houses and buildings. The wood carvers transform into true masterpieces with rich and original grounds. In addition to its captivating beauty, wood has a pleasant scent in the room he composed.

The woodwork is considered a fine art in Marrakech which requires great care and patience. The woodwork is possible thanks to the presence of trees such as cedar, pine, beech and olive. Several trees are present in Morocco particularly in valleys and mountains.

The cabinet makers and craftsmen working mostly Moroccan cedar wood. Essaouira a few km from Marrakech, which specializes in marquetry, small boxes, chest, tables on foot pads, chessboards are made of cedar wood decorated with ebony wood and lemon. Fez and Tetuan are specialized in painting on wood called Zouak. Fez and Meknes are known by their moucharabieh, work of great finesse where small pieces of wood are turned assembled forming geometric compositions very sophisticated.

The Carpet:

behind the tapestry dates back to ancient times. Used both as object of protection against the cold but also as works of art in its own right, we can consider only two families Marrakesh carpet stand out: the urban carpet (subject to stamping), or Rabat of Mediouna, rural and carpets from the Middle Atlas, the High Atlas and Haouz Marrakesh. the art of carpet has enriched all creations of artisans from different populations and the many dynasties that succeeded. Thus, each carpet, even contemporary, is both a tradition bearer millennium and singular work of creation. .

Each region Moroccan manufactures carpets with specific characteristics. Varying sizes and colors, the carpet is a popular tradition in Morocco. Only the best materials are used and this explains in part the high cost of these works. Knotted carpets are more popular and come from everywhere. What makes them all originals and intriguing is the meaning of the reasons they present.

Ceramics:

clay of very good quality will be worked until the impurities to form vases, jars, pots, plates and trays. These pots are usually embellished by hues typical of the region and the geometric or floral decorations. The most famous cities are: Fez, Safi, Sale and Marrakech.

Embroidery:

The dark blue embroidery of Fes and Marrakech are the most common, of Rabat, Salé, Meekness, Azemmour and Tetouan are also widespread. These works are executed with great skill using mostly the son of silk of different colors. They are found in tablecloths, napkins, Kaftan, Moroccan evening dress.

Semi-precious stones:

The Stone of Taroudant, used to manufacture boxes engraved with geometric motifs. The stones in the rough: amethyst, quartz, manganese are often placed along the road in the High Atlas Mountains between Marrakech and Ouarzazate.

basketry:

A 100% manual trades, it offers an extraordinary flexibility to address unique customer needs. Baskets, vans, trays, boxes, these items are made by hand in almost all villages. In both the rif where women wear huge hats than in cities like Fez, Marrakech and saltwater.

Jewelry:

Again, we must distinguish jewelry jewelry rural dwellers. The jewels are usually in urban or finely carved motifs, floral for the most part, slightly increased, enhanced with precious stones often cabochon (emeralds, diamonds, garnets, rubies very clear so-called "Fez" and "Marrakesh"), they can achieve great magnificence. They are used mainly for women. The badge for them is an essential complement to their place of celebration. Men, meanwhile, used most often silver jewelry. Jewels rural in the country, especially in the South, the taste for finery is very strong, and jewelry have also Berber their sumptuousness. The most beautiful are silver, others are bronze despite that they retain great nobility. They are of exceptional purity of line, with their geometric designs and sometimes floral motifs. The glass and wax color there are often gems and enamel.
In addition to Marrakesh jewelry, metalwork essentially metalwork (use of iron for achieving including gates, windows, balconies), the DAMASCENE (from Syria, overlays in metal or smooth son twisted copper , Silver and gold), the brassware (parts emboutées), and the work of alpaca (copper, zinc and nickel, whose white glow reminiscent of money). The metals used in all these trades are silver, copper and their derivatives. The silver jewelry is mainly present in the south, Agadir, Taroudant, Tiznit, Goulimine, Laayoune, and Essaouira where the metal is in the form of balls or powder. The brassware and iron are found in cities, particularly in Fez, where they participate in the architecture of large buildings: palaces, mosques ... You can also see the dinandier opens in the souks where they sell trays, decorated with lanterns and colored glass containers they have various carvings or Damasquina. The grounds found on the Moroccan jewelry inspired by various cultural influences that coexist in Morocco such as East, Africa and Europe.

Textile:

Weaving Marrakesh is emerging in Morocco from 1500 BC. Since JC, textiles, used by a wide variety of materials, is the flagship of crafts in Marrakech.

The various forms of crafts ranging from textile weaving simple barrier that the bodies, objects of the finest décor. The Moroccan textile tribes are among the most dazzling and most impressive of the African continent. Variations of rhythmic patterns, the vibration of colors, the variety of textures and the power they emit make them unique. The textile city dwellers have nothing to envy them: the beautiful embroidery of Fez compete with those of Rabat, Meknes and Sale or Tetouan. It should be noted that women held for the holidays (caftan) were works of art created and tailored by hand true artisans of Marrakech.

Pottery:

Pottery is one of the first crafts Marrakesh. The duality between the Berber heritage on the one hand and Spanish-Moorish influence on the other hand, is found in the techniques employed as in the grounds and decorations that adorn the pieces of clay. In Marrakesh, this tradition has elevated to an art rarely equaled. There are three main categories: pottery town, the magnificent models, mostly made in Fez and Safi Salt and two pottery rural north and south, both utilities, the first being widely practiced by women and the second by men. The three main centers of production of pottery and ceramics in Morocco are represented by Marrakesh, Fez and Safi Salé.

Artisan Architecture:

The craftsmen of traditional architecture perpetuate traditions that date back, mostly in Moorish Spain. Rather than succumb to standardization, the traditional architectural art has kept its identity. Thus the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca, was able to pay tribute to the talent of thousands of artisans and ensure recognition of these ancestral techniques. The various art forms of art-Arab Muslim have their full development in the traditional Moroccan architecture. Indeed, the architecture allows artists and craftsmen produce beautiful masterpieces. If models in the city tend to invade the architecture of the countryside, the rural world has an artistic expression of its own (houses blue-Chief Chaouen). the arrangement of zelliges, plaster and wood gives the town residence, the appearance of exuberant wealth. As against, they give kasbahs and other farm rural cheerfulness contrasts with the austerity and simplicity of the materials used.