Men in striped jalabas smiled at us and
patted at a pile of rugs they sat on as we walked by. Row upon row of shops full of very similar
rugs, it is a mystery to me what makes a person stop and look at a particular
pile of rugs. A wrinkled man with a
white mustache and a wide smile greeted us in German. We looked blank. He tried French. Americans we said, he nodded, and called back
through a curtain at the back of the shop.
A teenage boy in a white jalaba came out to greet us. He spoke with a slight American southern
accent. They were Berbers, he
explained. This was his uncle’s
shop. The family was from the Atlas
Mountains not far from Fez. They had
just delivered some of the most beautiful rugs they had ever made. We were extremely lucky to happen upon his
uncle's shop.
The old man
began to roll out one beautiful rug after another. Here, feel the fiber. Look at the backing. We knelt down, felt the wool, admired the
strong backing and the elegant design.
These rugs are made to last a lifetime, several life times. And as I type this I look down at one of the
rugs, just as beautiful as that day we first saw it.
During this
year's Art Harvest Studio Tour I think Elizabeth was remembering that day in
the rug souk of Marrakessh as she rolled out her rugs for a young couple that
came by her studio. They felt the
fiber. They felt the quality of the
backing. They admired the design. And they took one of her rugs home with them.
It was a
good Tour.
