This rug comes from a village outside the Todgha Gorge, where more than five women worked together over six months to create this beautiful, hand-embroidered weave. This rug is made from live sheep’s wool and sabra, a rare silk spun from Saharan aloe vera cactus. Despite the abundance of the cacti, authentic sabra silk is hard to find in Morocco because it's often cheaper from other countries. Our artisans purchased their sabra silk from the local market. The seller collected and spun this fiber himself in his village. The wool and sabra were dyed by hand using henna, pomegranate, saffron and indigo.

As with most of the women in the village, this group of artisans also learned their craft from Rokia, who is almost 100 years old. Rokia’s daughters, Rabha and Latifa, have taken over the duties of helping sell the women’s rugs and showed us this one-of-a-kind piece.

--technical details
Size: 4.1 x 5.6 ft
Rug Style: Kilim 
Pile: Flat (embroidered) 
Materials: 100% live sheep’s wool and sabra silk