Reference
Glossary
The carpet merchant uses these words to sell. We use them to explain. The difference is in what gets said when the sale is not the point. Technique, material, cultural context, condition, and provenance. Defined with precision and connected to the pieces in the gallery.
A
AbrashThe colour variation that runs horizontally across a textile when the dye batch changes between rows. A flaw is what the merchant calls it. The weaver knows it as the record of how the piece was made.MaterialAmazighThe indigenous people of North Africa, whose presence predates the Arab conquest of the seventh century, the Roman occupation, and the Phoenician settlements. The word means "free people" in Tamazight.CulturalAntiqueMade before approximately 1930. Rare, less available, and carrying a different weight of history.ProvenanceAzilalRugs from the Azilal province of the High Atlas, characterised by abstract, loosely geometric compositions, bright colour, and a creative freedom distinct from more rigidly structured High Atlas traditions.Technique
B
Beni OurainThe most copied Moroccan rug in the world. Deep ivory pile, spare geometric marking, wool from Middle Atlas sheep that winter at altitude. Most of what is sold as Beni Ourain is neither.CulturalBerberThe historically predominant external term for the indigenous peoples of North Africa, used widely in rug commerce, though "Amazigh" is the preferred self-designation.CulturalBoucherouitteA rug made from torn clothing. The palette was whatever was in the house. The word means "from shredded cloth" in Moroccan Arabic.Technique
C
Chemical WashingAn industrial finishing process that softens pile and evens colour by treating a rug with chemical agents. Standard practice in commercial rug retail. Not done here.ConditionChrome DyeA category of synthetic dye mordanted with potassium dichromate, producing rich, stable colours widely used in twentieth-century Moroccan rug production.MaterialCondition GradesFour grades: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair. Each described specifically in the listing. Nothing graded optimistically.ConditionCooperativeA collective structure through which weavers sell their work jointly and access materials, markets, and fairer pricing. The word is used honestly in some contexts and as marketing in others.ProvenanceCottonA plant-fibre used primarily as warp material in Moroccan rugs, providing dimensional stability not available from wool warps.Material
E
ElibendeA hand motif woven into Anatolian and some North African textiles, fingers extended, protective intention. Related to the khamsa but distinct in form.CulturalEvil EyeThe belief that envy, directed with sufficient intensity, can cause harm. One of the oldest and most widely distributed beliefs in human culture. The protective marks in Amazigh weaving are largely a response to it.Cultural
F
FlatweaveAny woven textile without pile. Flat, reversible, lighter than a pile rug of the same size. Made from a single decision repeated thousands of times.TechniqueFlatweave CareThe specific maintenance and cleaning requirements for kilim and other flatweave rugs, distinct from pile rug care.SpatialFringeThe exposed warp threads at the ends of a rug, a structural element, not a decorative addition.Spatial
G
GejmatA flat-knotted or mixed-technique Moroccan rug type associated with the Atlantic coastal urban tradition, distinct from both High Atlas flatweave and Middle Atlas pile-knotted traditions.TechniqueGhiordes KnotAlso called the symmetrical or Turkish knot, the primary knotting structure in Moroccan Amazigh pile weaving. Each knot wraps symmetrically around two adjacent warp threads.Technique
H
HanbelA thick, heavy Moroccan flatweave, denser and heavier than a kilim, traditionally used as a blanket or bedcover as well as a floor textile.TechniqueHand-SpunYarn produced by hand, on a drop spindle or spinning wheel, rather than by machine. The irregularity is the point.MaterialHandiraA Zemmour wedding blanket, made by a bride and her female relatives in the months before the ceremony. Not a rug. A biography in wool and metal sequins.TechniqueHennaA natural dye from the Lawsonia inermis plant, used in Moroccan weaving to produce warm reds, terracottas, and rust tones.Material
K
KhamsaA hand-shaped amulet, palm facing outward, used across North Africa and the Middle East to ward against the evil eye. Called the Hand of Fatima in Islamic contexts, the Hand of Miriam in Jewish ones. Older than both.CulturalKilimA flatweave with no pile. The weft threads carry the pattern and the structure at the same time. What you see is what the weaver decided, row by row.TechniqueKnot DensityThe number of hand-tied knots per square centimetre in a pile-knotted rug, a measure of fineness and a factor in pattern resolution and durability.Technique
M
MadderA plant-based red dye from the root of Rubia tinctorum. The dominant red in Zemmour pile work. In natural dye pieces, it ages toward garnet rather than toward rust.MaterialMordantA metallic salt that bonds dye to wool fibre. Alum is the most common. Iron darkens. Tin brightens. The mordant is half the colour.MaterialMoth DamageDeterioration caused by the larvae of clothes moths feeding on wool fibres, one of the most common forms of damage in stored or infrequently used rugs.SpatialMrirtA pile-knotted rug from the Mrirt tribe of the Middle Atlas, softer palette and denser composition than Beni Ourain, often incorporating orange, terracotta, and ivory.Technique
P
Pile HeightThe length of the pile above the foundation. At Tilwen: Flat (no pile), Low (under 8mm), Medium (8–15mm), High (over 15mm).SpatialPile SheddingThe release of loose wool fibres from a new pile rug during its first months of use, a normal characteristic of natural wool rugs, not a defect.SpatialPile-KnottedIndividual wool knots tied around warp threads, row by row, then clipped. The surface is warm underfoot, acoustically dense, and slow to make.TechniquePrimary MarketThe first point of sale, where the piece goes directly from the maker into commerce, without passing through an intermediary. The shortest provenance chain.ProvenanceProtective MotifA mark placed in a textile to guard against harm. Placed with intention. Working.CulturalProvenanceWhere the piece came from, and the chain of custody that brought it here. Stated to the extent the evidence reaches, and no further.Provenance
R
RestorationThe repair or reconstruction of damaged areas of a rug, ranging from legitimate structural conservation to commercially motivated alteration.ConditionRotationPeriodically turning a rug 180° to distribute wear and sun exposure evenly across the surface.SpatialRug PadA non-slip underlayer placed beneath a rug, preventing movement, protecting the floor, and extending the rug's life.Spatial
S
SaffronA natural dye derived from the dried stigmas of Crocus sativus, producing warm yellows and golden ochres in Moroccan Amazigh weaving.MaterialSelvedgeThe finished side edges of a woven rug, formed by the weft threads turning at the edge of the warp.SpatialSenneh KnotAn asymmetrical knotting technique in which pile yarn wraps around one warp thread and passes behind an adjacent one. Also called the Persian or asymmetrical knot.TechniqueSilkA protein fibre from silkworm cocoons, used occasionally in Moroccan rug production as accent thread or highlight in urban workshop pieces, rarely in Amazigh village weaving.MaterialSlit-WeaveA kilim construction where adjacent colour areas meet at a shared warp thread, creating a literal slit in the textile. The source of the sharp geometric edges in classic kilim patterning.TechniqueSoumakA wrapped flatweave technique that creates a herringbone or chevron surface texture by wrapping weft threads around warp threads rather than simply passing through them.TechniqueSupplementary WeftAdditional weft threads introduced above the structural weft to create pattern or texture, the structural weft holds the textile together while the supplementary weft carries the design.TechniqueSynthetic DyeChemical dyes developed from coal tar derivatives in the 1850s and widely available in Morocco by the early twentieth century. They changed the palette of Amazigh weaving permanently.Material
T
TanitThe principal deity of ancient Carthage, goddess of the moon, fertility, and protection. Her symbol, a triangular figure with a horizontal bar, persists in Amazigh textile borders, jewellery, and tattoo to this day.CulturalTapestry WeaveA weaving structure in which discontinuous weft threads create the pattern by turning back at colour boundaries rather than passing across the full width of the warp.TechniqueTaznakhteThe market town in the Draa valley whose weekly souk is one of the most active primary rug markets in southern Morocco. The name refers to the place, not a tribe.ProvenanceTifinaghThe ancient script of the Tamazight language, used by Imazighen across North Africa and the Sahara, and visually related to several motifs in Amazigh weaving.CulturalTribal AttributionThe practice of naming a rug after the tribe or community that made it. Often accurate. Sometimes commercial mythology. The difference matters.Provenance
W
WarpThe vertical foundation threads stretched on the loom before the weaving begins. Everything else is built around them.TechniqueWarp-facedWarp threads cover the weft and carry the pattern. Common in Saharan tent bands and woven belts rather than floor rugs.TechniqueWeftThe horizontal threads that pass over and under the warp to build the fabric. In a kilim, the weft is the pattern. In a pile rug, it locks each row of knots in place.TechniqueWeft-facedA weave structure where the weft threads completely cover the warp. The surface is entirely the weft. The warp is the skeleton underneath, invisible.TechniqueWoolThe primary material of Amazigh weaving. Its quality, the breed of sheep, the altitude, the season of shearing, whether it was hand-spun, determines almost everything about the finished piece.Material
Z
ZanafiA flatweave from the Draa valley, entirely striped, entirely honest. The natural output of a horizontal loom where every row is a colour decision.TechniqueZemmourAn Amazigh tribal confederation of the Middle Atlas plateau near Khemisset, whose pile-knotted rugs are among the most technically precise in Morocco, and whose wedding blanket tradition is the most biographically loaded.Cultural