Haouz Plain

Overview

The farmland around Marrakech. Being close to the city brought new materials and ideas within reach without erasing the local hand, so the weaving here sits between country and town.

Visual Grammar

Softer and more curved than the mountain traditions, and warmer in colour. More vegetable dye — saffron, henna, pomegranate. Brocaded and mixed-technique pieces are common. You can see Marrakech leaking into some later pieces, but it rarely takes them over.

Technique Traditions

Mixed techniques are normal: a flatweave foundation carrying pile or brocaded supplementary weft. Some of the most technically complex domestic textiles in Morocco were made on this plain, and that complexity is part of what a good Haouz piece is worth.