Unravel the Magic with Beni M'rirt Rugs | RES IPSA

February 20, 2024

Beni M'rirt, Morocco — We are excited to offer a collection of custom rugs made to order. Now available online, shop rug designs by customizing the colors and dimensions. All custom rugs are made by hand in the High Atlas mountain village of Beni M’rirt.

Each rug is a labor of love. The slow practice of rug-weaving sometimes takes up to two months or longer. Read on to shop the new custom rug collection and for the full story behind the rug-weaving process.

Where are Beni M'rirt rugs made?

All custom Ben M'rirt rugs are made in Beni M'rirt—a small village community situated in the middle of the High Atlas mountain range in northern Morocco—approximately 200 miles north of Marrakech. Within the local community, Beni M'rirt rugs are often woven in private homes or at small ateliers.

Who weaves each rug?

Women. As a traditional, slow-fashion process, rug-weaving is a women-led process accomplished inside private homes or near them so that women can easily access their vertical looms.

Women oscillate between a central role as primary caregiver along with other responsibilities including rug-weaving. Each weaver threads their lived, every day experiences and emotions into each design making the final result one-of-a-kind and extremely personal.

What's the rug-weaving process?

Rug-weaving in Morocco is a multi-generational transmission of knowledge that encompasses many skills and steps. These steps include:

obtaining the sheep wool,
repetitive combing,
careful spinning,
dyeing,
washing,
and drying.

The washing phase happens in a nearby spring or source of water. The drying phase happens under sunlight—naturally enhancing the colors to even greater vivid and vibrant shades.

Furthermore one can imagine that the approach of such artistic production, when contextualized, emphasizes the weaver's abundant story-telling and skills.

Custom Rugs