Beni Ourain rugs
The name Beni Ourain refers to 17 different Berber tribes that inhabit the Atlas Mountains. Beni Ourain are a vast group of tribes that live in the mountains to the south and east of Fez. They are most renowned for their thick knotted pile carpets made of undyed natural wool with beautiful off-white or beige backgrounds and black or brown geometric patterns. |
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Beni Ourain's carpets have the lozenge design, which is his signature style. It's a famous Moroccan carpet design. You can frequently detect dark brown lines and shapes on a white or cream background.The Beni Ourain tribes are from Morocco's north-eastern Middle Atlas mountains. The Middle Atlas region resembles a large crescent moon, curving from the coastal foothills east of Casablanca via Khenifra and north to the Mount Zerhoun area above Fez.
The weavers use organic wool to make these 100% sheep wool rugs. This is wool shorn from a sheep, not from a sheepskin after it has been slain. |
You may also notice hidden symbols, dates, or signatures on the rug, which add to its fascination. The classic knotted pile carpets and flatweaves of the Middle Atlas are based principally on an asymmetrical configuration of transverse panels using variations of the diamond pattern. The symmetrical compositions with borders and traditional design features indicate the expanding importance of weaving centers along the Atlantic coast. |
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A Beni Ourain rug nearly always features the diamond pattern. The lozenge incorporates the concepts of the the womb (matrix), the mother's body, and the entire feminine form. The so-called Venus statuettes, the oldest depictions of humans in art, are frequently shaped like an upright lozenge. By association, the feminine form were reduced to a single shape that merged into one. This also explains the lack of arms and feet. In a pile carpet, the lozenge is typically upright, whereas in a flat weave, it is horizontal. Without losing its meaning, it can take on additional polygonal shapes by varying degrees of stepping and eventually become a rectangle. |
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Lozenge with extended sides: The sides of the lozenge can be extended past the top and bottom intersections or beyond all four corners, resulting in open angles. This theme may be regarded as the woman's open (sexual) readiness. If a little element appears between the legs, it signals a birth. The lozenge, either alone or in a network, is the most common female emblem on Berber carpets. These may be regarded as the fundamental forms. They were also all documented in the Stone Age. They are connected both structurally and symbolically. The lozenge is also a symbol of protection in Amazigh culture and you can find this shape drawn as architecture on the doors of houses.