Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
BUYING SUSTAINABLE SOUVENIRS
Most Sustainable: Tyre Crafts
Used tyres don't biodegrade, and burning them produces toxic fumes - but when cleverly repurposed
by Moroccan artisans, they make fabulous home furnishings. Tyre-tread mirrors make any entryway
look dashingly well-travelled and inner-tube tea trays are ideal for entertaining motorcycle gangs. For
the best selection, visit the tyre-craft
mâalems
(master artisans) lining the south end of Rue Riad
Zitoun el-Kedim in Marrakesh.
Quite Sustainable: Argan Oil
The finest cosmetic oil to ever pass through the business end of a goat. Outside Essaouira and in the
Anti Atlas, goats climb low argan trees to eat the nuts, digesting the soft, fuzzy outer layer and passing
the pit. Traditionally, women then collect the dung, and extract, clean and crack the pit to remove the
nut, which is then pressed to yield the orange-tinted oil rich in vitamin E. This is arduous handwork,
and buying from a collective is the best way to ensure that the women are paid fairly.
Possibly Sustainable: Berber Carpets & Blankets
Berber blankets are often made with wool so natural that you can feel the lanolin on them. Most
weavers use a combination of natural and artificial dyes to achieve the desired brilliance and lightfast-
ness. Some cooperatives card and dye their own wool for natural colours, but for bright colours it's
better that they source their wool from reputable dyers instead of handling and disposing of chemical
dyes themselves. For associations advancing best environmental practices and paying women weavers
fairly, visit Kasbah Myriem (
Click here
), Cooperative Feminin de Tissage Aït Bououli (
Click here
),
Jemaite Tifawin Carpet Cooperative (
Click here
) and Association Gorge du Dadès (
Click here
).
Not so Sustainable: Thuya Wood
The root of a juniper that grows only in Morocco, this caramel-coloured knotty burl is at risk of being
admired to extinction. Buy carved thuya bowls and jewellery boxes only from artisans' collectives
more likely to practise responsible collection and reforesting, such as the Cooperative Artisanal des
Marqueteurs (
Click here
) and the Cooperative Artisanale des Femmes de Marrakesh (
Click here
)
.
Zellij
To make a Moroccan fountain, grab your hammer and chisel, and carefully chip a glazed
tile into a geometrically correct shape. Good job - now only 6000 more to go to finish
your water feature. Then again, you might leave it to the Moroccan mosaic masters to
spiff up your foyer with glittering
zellij
end tables, entryway mirrors and fountains of all
sizes. Fez has a reputation for the most intricate, high-lustre
zellij,
and the historic foun-
tains around town dating from the Middle Ages are convincing advertisements for Fassi
masterworks.
