Morocco Home
A Cultural Project
The
Amazighs, whom you may know better as Berbers, are
among the oldest living cultures in the world. Their history
is said to date back 20,000 years, primarily in North Africa and, today,
more particularly in the Maghreb. The Amazigh culture is now present
all over the world.
Who does not know the magnificent handmade Moroccan rugs,
the lamps, the copper pots and the tadelakt?
But the
Amazigh culture is much more than that. It has developed a great
intelligence of its own — in languages, architecture, music, knowledge of
medicinal plants and its exceptional arts and crafts.
Morocco is built on this Amazigh foundation. Here, it is not a bygone past.
It is present in the people who identify as Amazigh. It
is present in the recognition of Tamazight as an official language,
written in its own Tifinagh alphabet. It is palpable in the hospitality
that reigns throughout Morocco. It can be found in the houses, the villages, the
materials and the objects. And above all, it can be found in the hands of the
Amazigh artisans. They are the ones who create all these wonders now
admired by so many people around the world. Trades passed down from
generation to generation.
Morocco Home wishes to bring this culture to the forefront; to make it visible
in its beauty, its physical intelligence and its intrinsic value to
humanity. In a world increasingly overwhelmed by anonymous mass production,
Amazigh craftsmanship still carries the knowledge of materials,
the rhythm, the meaning, sustainability and the human dimension. And even if
many people find Moroccan craftsmanship beautiful, many
artisans have low incomes. It is partly for this reason that the
young generations tend to be seduced by the anonymity of the ever-expanding cities.
What
Amazigh artisans, both women and men, create are not just
objects, but the vectors of a living culture that has survived despite
centuries of pressure, modernisation and forgetfulness.
But it needs a boost.
Morocco Home brings together Amazigh craftsmanship, art and culture in one
place. Rugs, textiles, wood, pottery, jewellery, paintings and objects that do
not come from factories, but from a millennia-old tradition of making.
The online shop is the lifeblood of Morocco Home. Those who create
all these beauties must be able to make a living from it. What is bought allows to
keep this creation alive and ensures that its value is recognised and
valued. It can also rekindle the enthusiasm of the younger generation
so that they continue to be carriers and transmitters of Amazigh culture.
Ultimately, Morocco Home wishes to create an Amazigh cultural centre in Essaouira
: a place where visitors can discover and experience how rich, warm, refined
and contemporary the art of living derived from Amazigh culture can be. Not a museum of a vanished world, but a living house
where craftsmanship, art, interior decoration, history and daily life
come together once again. A house where everything visible is
also connected to the creators who produced it.
Morocco Home thus wishes to contribute to the preservation and
recognition of a culture that holds value not only for the Amazighs
themselves, but for all those who understand that the future of humanity does
not depend solely on technology, but also on what human hands,
attention and beauty are still capable of.
The first pieces are already on sale via our Instagram account
: @moroccohome.artisans. Over the next few weeks, we will gradually complete
our offering with rugs, poufs, armchairs, various sculptures, fossils, paintings and objects. The
online shop of Morocco Home will also open its doors from 21
September.
If you wish to support Morocco Home in this initial phase, you
can make a donation according to your means. We will use this support
for setting up the online shop, photography, product
descriptions, translations, promotional cards, displays, articles, transport and visibility. You will thus contribute
to building a concrete bridge between Amazigh artisans in Morocco and those
who wish to discover, appreciate and purchase their work.
Welcome!
