Our decision to go to Morocco for our honeymoon was first met with surprise and confusion. Most often the response we heard was “…why Morocco?”.
Nearly two years later after a huge boom of Moroccan goods in interior design, when people learn of our honeymoon to Morocco they now respond with “Ohh the poufs! The rugs!”.

Yes the poufs…the rugs…they were magnificent.
I must admit I’m sad I didn’t bring back more (especially argan oil!) but am immensely happy with what we did select, and am, to this day, constantly drawn to moroccan artifacts.
Below are some images from our honeymoon that inspired the above finds. Sincere apologies for the watermarks. These images are personal and immensely important to me. I don’t want them to get lost in the interweb or taken without credit.

Meeting and watching the makers behind these beautiful Moroccan goods was beyond inspiring. The first woman is an apprentice, tracing lines her master drew onto pottery that is to be painted and fired. She will trace her master’s work until she is confident enough to draw her own lines – a skill that takes an incredible amount of time to master. The woman at the rug loom works her nimble yet strong fingers to pull the wool through the strings, creating designs completely from memory. Due to the fine motor skills in this task, it is considered a woman’s job while men operate the heavy looms to weave silk scarves.

Moroccan goods are hot right now and all sorts of popular shops are offering moroccan inspired rugs, especially the beni ourain variety. While I’m not opposed to people buying knock offs as the real deal are usually vastly unaffordable, it is far more satisfying to own something with a history, that is handmade, and comes from its origins rather than from a factory. So I’m going to give you a little tip – hunt.
Go to auctions, search antique shops, and best of all, search used sites like craigslist. That is where I found my 9×15 ft vintage beni ourain rug for an insanely cheap price.
Yes, I lucked out. The sellers were an elderly couple who bought it at an auction only to find it didn’t fit in their home. It doesn’t fit in ours either but we were determined to make it work.
So friends, if you have the patience and the willingness to hunt around, you never know just how lucky you might get.