Zayan
The women of the Zayan, an Amazigh (Berber) confederation near Khenifra, weave bold rugs in warm ochre and deep red — from a people who held out against the French until 1921.
The Zayan hold the western Middle Atlas around Khenifra — the same mountains as the Beni M'Guild and Zemmour, but their own people with their own history. They were among the last Amazigh (Berber) communities to resist French control, holding out until 1921 under Moha ou Hammou Zayani. That is not background colour. These rugs were woven by a community keeping its own terms against steady pressure, and the work has that self-possession in it.
The compositions are large and direct — lozenges, stepped diamonds, chevrons — in warm ochre, deep madder red, and dark wool over ivory. Less crowded than a Zemmour, less varied than a Beni M'Guild, a Zayan gets its authority from confidence rather than elaboration.
The protective marks are here too. A lozenge is not just a shape; it is placed where it is meant to be placed, in the number it is meant to appear. Old pieces are natural-dyed — walnut and pomegranate for the dark browns, madder for the red, saffron for the ochre — and the gap between a natural and a synthetic Zayan is wide.