The Ultimate Guide To Moroccan Rugs

Moroccan Rugs

Morocco is one of those traditional rug-producer countries that, like Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, or India, have a reputation for providing the rest of the world with exquisite rugs. It’s not a surprise that Moroccan rugs are wildly popular around the world.

We love the vibe. The often asymmetric patterns. The tribal feel. And the earthy, neutral, and natural tones.

But in fact, the world of Moroccan rugs is a very complex one that is well worth looking into the details.

What is a Moroccan rug?

As you are well aware, Morocco is a country in Northwest Africa. But while the rug style is clearly named after the country itself, Moroccan rugs refer to more of a style than the actual place of origin of the specific rugs.

It’s somewhat easier when the two are a bit different. Think about Persian Rugs, which originate from Iran (that’s where the biggest chunk of the Persian population lives), but Persian rugs are produced in a much broader region, that includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other places.

So when you hear the term Moroccan rug, it refers to a style and certain characteristics of the rug; It doesn’t necessarily mean that the rug was produced within the borders of Morocco.

The Best Moroccan Rugs

Why are Moroccan rugs popular?

Moroccan rugs are extremely popular for a number of reasons.

First, their generally neutral and natural look brings good vibes and energies into any space.

Second, their patterns and designs are usually interesting enough to steer clear of being boring, yet not too bold to demand too much attention. It contains just the right amount of design, that will serve most homeowners well, and that will go well with a large number of home décor styles and design elements.

Finally, traditional Moroccan rugs are made of natural fibers, like wool, and this makes them very popular among those, who strive for a natural look and feel in their homes.

Handmade Moroccan Rugs

Morocco has thousands of years of tradition of rug-making. In fact, Wikipedia claims that rugs by the indigenous people of Morocco have been woven since the paleolithic age, or, in other words, since the stone age.

Up until the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century, all these rugs were handmade.

The picture, since then, and particularly with the advent of mass production in the mid-twentieth century, got a bit more diverse.

While traditional Moroccan rugs are still produced using century-old techniques, age-old craftsmanship and all that, nowadays most of the Moroccan rugs you’ll find out there (Moroccan-style rugs, that is) are machine-made. And that’s alright, too.

Sure, you’ll lose some of the magic of the original rugs, but the flip side of the same coin is that you can buy Moroccan-style rugs for a reasonable and affordable price.

Artisan Moroccan Rugs

Artisan Moroccan Rugs are really just a synonym for handmade Moroccan rugs. If you think about it, the ability to weave a rug must make someone an artisan, right?

While most artisan Moroccan rugs are still produced using traditional methods and techniques, it’s sourcing them and distributing them to all over the world that makes up for the tricky part.

And with that, we arrive to a crucial point. You might want to have the most beautiful and exclusive Moroccan rug in your home, but you definitely don’t want anyone to be exploited in the production process. Especially not the woman or women who made your rug to begin with.

Which brings us to:

Fair Trade Moroccan Rugs

One thing to watch out for, when it comes to Moroccan rugs is how they were produced, especially if their production cycle involved child labor, forced labor, or any exploitation of the people (and animals, when it comes to wool) involved in the rug-making.

The colonial era, is of course, long gone, by now – but old habits die hard.

Morocco, like the better part of Africa, used to be a colony of the “industrialized west” throughout much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In Morocco’s case, the country used to be a battleground between the French, Spanish and Portuguese empires (and the local population in the crossfire, of course). The French ended up leaving the most influence on the country, and subsequently, exploiting the country’s natural and human resources, before it became independent as recently as 1956.

This short lesson in history might seem like a distraction when it comes to rugs, but whenever we are talking about former colonies, it is always well worth looking for the labels fair trade – just in case.

And while we’re at fair trade Moroccan rugs: you can’t really have a discussion on this topic without mentioning one of our most cherished woman-run rug brands: Salam Hello.

Salam Hello founder Mallory Solomon, inspired by a regular tourist trip to Morocco, decided to elevate the Moroccan rug-game to a new level by creating a platform that directly connects the Moroccan artisans weaving their lives into their rugs, and their (presumably first-world) customers.

This platform is Salam Hello.

On top of offering exclusive (almost always one-of-a-kind) rugs, Salam Hello comes with the notion that you really appreciate and also support the artisan, whose work you’ll have in your house for many years to come.

Our Favorite rugs from Salam Hello

Moroccan Trellis Rugs

Okay, let’s get something straight! Moroccan rugs, or in another name Berber rugs are traditionally produced by the women of the over dozen (17 to be accurate) tribes that reside somewhere within the current state borders of Morocco from the high Atlas Mountains down to the Sahara desert.

Each tribe has different styles, and one tribe doesn’t necessarily restrict itself to producing just one specific style. So, if you do the math, you will soon end up with dozens if not a hundred different Moroccan rug styles. Some more popular styles include the Azilal Rugs, the Boujad Rugs, the Moroccan Kilim Rug, and others.

Moroccan Trellis rugs are not among these styles.

Let me repeat, because this is important: Moroccan Trellis rugs (that make up to roughly 80% of the results when you search for Moroccan Rugs in any major webstore or search engine) is not one of the traditional Moroccan rug styles.

In fact, as this New York Time piece from 2021 very accurately describes it, it is a design originally put on the market by Rugs USA, that then swept the market like a storm.

The difference between Moroccan Trellis Rugs and traditional style Moroccan Rugs is glaringly obvious: no traditional Moroccan rug is symmetric in its patterns.

On the other hand, these mass-produced Moroccan Trellis Rugs got popular for a reason. Without being too elaborate or sophisticated (or prohibitively expensive, for that matter) they invoke the traditional, tribal vibe of Moroccan rugs, bringing character and style to any home without necessarily overwhelming it.

It comes as no surprise, then, that by today Moroccan Trellis Rugs are a separate “style in a style” with countless variations and color combinations available.

Moroccan Trellis Rug Ideas

Modern Moroccan Rugs

Vintage Moroccan Rugs

Moroccan Rugs Online

Are Moroccan Rugs good quality?

As we’ve seen above, Moroccan Rugs today usually refer to a style of rugs than an actual production method or quality.

So be sure to buy good quality rugs when you are shopping for Moroccan rugs. Our best advice here? Choose one of the rugs we recommend in this post, or at least stick with the brands or retailers to make sure you don’t end up with buyer’s remorse.

How can you tell if a Moroccan Rug is Real?

Guaranteeing a rug’s authenticity is rather a tall order. Whether a rug is coming from a certain region or country, whether it was authentically handmade, using traditional, artisan techniques, whether its raw materials are really natural and of premium quality, and finally whether it is really valuable, is for the professionals to tell.

Your best bet is to stick with reliable producers and reliable retailers when you choose the rug for your own apartment (or for anyone else’s for that matter).

Are Moroccan Rugs out of fashion?

Moroccon rugs are real evergreens of the home décor and interior design worlds. Like Persian, Anatolian or other traditional rugs (although with quite a different look and feel) they will never go out of style, and they will be a great match for a huge variety of design trends.

Moroccan rugs are easy to combine with other style elements, as well – like Scandinavian minimalist design, Boho or Mid Century design, and, yes, with contemporary, modern design as well.

Why do Moroccan Rugs have a Fringe?

The fringes on the ends of Moroccan rugs tell a story about their weavers. It sends the message that their life story is “not over yet”, and is “still being written”.

Traditional Moroccan rug weavers would consider closing all edges of a rug a very foreshadowing move in and of itself.

You might call it superstition, but it’s more like a tradition that gives these rugs a unique character, and also a meaning that is beyond the self-evindent.

How to vacuum a Moroccan Rug?

Fringes, on the other hand, make vacuuming Moroccan rugs a bit more tricky, especially if your vacuum has brushes.

The best way to vacuum these rugs is to stand on the rug itself and push the vacuum cleaner outwards, then lift it on its way back.

This way the fringes will not get entangled with the vacuum, nor do they get sucked in and get possibly damaged by the vacuum cleaner.

Will a Robot vacuum get stuck in a Moroccan Rug?

Since Moroccan rugs as well as robot vacuums have huge differences, it is difficult to tell.

Intelligent robot vacuums, like the new Roomba models, will likely notice if they can’t deal with the fringes, and just stay away from the rug altogether. If you feel that your vacuum cleaner cannot cope with your rug, or you have negative experiences, it’s best to set a few virtual walls, or use other means of a restricted zone, to convince the vacuum to leave the rug alone – then clean it with a manual vacuum separately and carefully.