Beni Ourain Carpets

The Beni Ourain are a group of tribes of the north-eastern Middle Atlas, and the carpets that carry their name were made for use: thick undyed cream wool from the local sheep, woven in a heavy pile with a sparse pattern of black or brown lozenges and lines, used as bedding and covering in a cold mountain climate rather than as floor covering. Their reputation abroad came later - modernist architects, Le Corbusier and others, bought them in the mid-twentieth century and they became a fixture of a certain kind of interior, which is why the name now attaches to a great deal of production that has nothing to do with the region. What to know when buying: genuine pieces are hand-knotted in undyed wool with natural colour variation, irregular patterning and lanolin still in the fibre, and they are heavy. Bright white, perfectly regular and light usually means a workshop copy.

What you actually see

• Bedding, not decoration - thick undyed wool made for warmth in the mountains.
• Sparse black lozenges - a pattern language of lines and diamonds on cream ground.
• A modernist afterlife - taken up by architects abroad in the mid-twentieth century.
• The tells - natural colour variation, irregularity, lanolin and real weight.

When to go

October to April. Half a day at a cooperative or souk.

Honest expectations

Most carpets sold as Beni Ourain are not from the region - workshop copies dominate the market. Bright white and perfectly regular is a warning sign. Prices in Fes and Marrakech are several times cooperative prices. Genuine pieces are heavy to carry home.

Nearby

The Middle Atlas villages around Taza and Guercif are the source area.