I don’t consider myself prone to hippie fashion. Perhaps this is a contradiction since I love Moroccan design and Morocco has a special place in hippie history. But something about patchouli, knotted hair, and dazed circle dancing has never resonated positively with me.

However, today I found myself broswing Hippie Couture’s blog and Etsy store. I snagged the above photo from a post on Talitha Getty. I discovered a latent yearning for parrot tops and vintage frog closures. Boho suites me just fine.

I found myself in a SUV driven by an American who was touring Morocco with his girlfriend from Chezh Republic. I assumed they were married and asked how long. “They aren’t married” my tour guide whispered “that’s why he laughed when you asked the question.”

We talked as we drove towards the Merinid tombs. “Moroccans sure like their walls, don’t they?” the man asked rhetorically. “They have walls around nothing. He told me” the American said in reference to our guide “that the holes in the walls are for birds.”

“Seems to me they would be for guns.” I responded.
“That’s what I said!” the American exclaimed excitedly.
“No, I told you they’re for birds.” the guide said with exasperation.
“But it seems like a lot of work to do just for the birds.” I said. “And the guns would offer protection, which is the point of the exterior wall, right? Protection?”
“Well, you know Morocco. Nothing is done just as-is. Everything has to be beautiful.”

That almost seemed true. Morocco is visually ornate. But, Morocco is not ambitious. I can’t imagine a craftsman would complicate building procedures of an exterior wall just for the birds.

Later in Meknes, I began to appreciate the holes as bird homes. I watched mosquitoes fly in spirals in a sun beam in the garden. They nipped my ankles as I ate my lunch. They left marks along my daughter’s arms which she scratched until bleeding. As I watched birds fly in and out of the holes in wall around Bab Mansour I wished them a hearty meal of flies and mosquitoes. I thought of the owl, bat, and bird houses that were installed in my Maryland neighborhood to attract predators to control the mosquito and rodent population. Perhaps the holes were just for the birds?

“The holes are left when they remove the scaffolding used to construct the wall” the owner of Riad Safir later explained to me.”

Well, the holes in the wall are practical, even if not used for firing guns. As a by-product of construction procedures, they do make very functional and welcome bird houses.

My favorite thing to do in Rabat is to take pack my daughter and her trike in the car and head towards the medina. In May and June the weather is nice, perhaps a bit too hot at midday, but the crowds are thin. As my girl peddles her trike I take in the visual delight of artisan shops. If we visit during lunch when some of the shops are closed I can admire the painted doors. Sometimes we cross the street to the kasbah Oudaya for more fun exploring the gardens and a cup of tea for mom and cookies for the girl.

On one such trip, I stopped by the Maison du Artisan. Just outside the medina across from the Bou Regreg waterfront, I had been admiring this building from the outside and wondering what could be held inside. An artisan co-op? Business assistance? We wandered into a vacant courtyard with a central fountain.

We wandered up the stairs, Mom carried the trike, and a femme de menage immediately smiled a she noticed my girl, gently pinched her little cheek, and then kissed her own finger tips. This endearing gesture is common occurrence when traveling in Morocco with small children.

I explained using my poor French that I was researching export opportunities. I was shown into a woman’s office who explained to me in perfect English (lucky for us both) that she is working to help standardize the artisan sector and that one of her colleagues works on export opportunities. She gave me a lovely hardcover English-language book promoting Moroccan handicrafts, specifically carpets, weaving, pottery, leather, metal, wood, candles, jewelry, furniture, clothing, architecture, and organic products.

Her colleague took me into another office where I explained I was conducting research on export opportunities. But without a specific product and investment amount in mind, I could gather little information on pricing or suppliers. The first woman had explained that the website has a catalog of artisan contacts, but the website was broken when I visited. It ends up that the web address www.maisonartisana.org.ma which is printed on the back of the book is out-dated. The new address is www.lartisanatdumaroc.ma.

There was an exchange of business cards, but no further contact. I got the sense that most of the assistance is being supplied to artisan in-country as part of the Vision 2015 objectives, which include standardizing the artisan sector and getting more artisans to participate at trade shows and the like. I imagine there will be much improvement in the artisan sector within the next seven years.

If I do get around to importing Moroccan artisan products into the United States, I imagine I will do so by the container full instead of by working with individual suppliers. That said, if you are a Moroccan artisan seeking export opportunities to US markets, please contact me at sarah at moroccandesign.com.

In the medina of Chefchaoen there is a tiny shop where a happy guy knits the night away making funky hats, scarves, legwarmers and more. Tiny rainbow hats with animal ears for kids are particularly cute. This past December, I left with a hat and scarf to provide warmth in the mountain town’s cold night. I thought it was a steal compared to what I’d pay for similar set at Urban Outfitters or the like.

Sadly, whilst passing through Brussels in February, I unwittingly left my hat behind in my hurry to exit a subway train. I found myself that winter’s night with cold ears, my scarf forlorn without its partner.

In July I returned to Chaoen (turns out even the Moroccan mountain cities are hot in the summer) and wondered if I could again find the happy knitter’s little stall. Hoping to replace my lost hat but not optimistic I’d be able to locate the tiny shop, I was happy to finally find myself in a medina corridor that appeared familiar. I wandered up Rue Targui and meandered past riad Casa Hassan to a small square. A bit further uphill on the left I found the happy knitter’s shop. In tiny print painted above the stall door it simply stated “Hat Man.” The Hat Man was just where I’d last seen him, knitting away with kittens curled up around him and a candle lighting his workspace.

I explained my sorrow of my treasured hat that I lost in Belgium as looked through his piles for a similar color/style. “No problem. Come back tomorrow and you can pick up your same hat” he told me as he put away his work-in-progress and set out to recreate the hat per my description.

I returned the next day around noon when the Hat Man said he’d have it ready. I was not disappointed. I bought my replacement hat and another warm hat for my travel companion to use this winter. I left feeling great affection for the Hat Man. Voila- a snuggly hat identical to that I left on a European subway again in my hands. How many times in life do you get a chance to replace a little thing that was left behind?

When you go to Chaoen, consider staying at the Ksar Aladdin (+212.65.406.464, rue Rauachid) - like the riad Casa Hassan, its rooms have delightful décor and quirky bathrooms shaped like your own little castle, but all this for half the price of Casa Hassan. The best are the rooms on the top floor (well worth the climb), which include private en-suite patios offer amazing views of the mountains and medina below. While this guest house doesn’t include meal services, the same owner runs the Aladdin restaurant, a swank multi-level joint just off the main square. At the Aladdin restaurant you can dine with a stunning view of the happenings in the square below — enjoy your breakfast a sitting a stone’s throw from the top of the Kasbah tower or have a cozy dinner fireside surrounded by local art.

By guest blogger Vanessa

Chefchaouen is cool even when its 110 degrees outside ; think dreadlocks mixing with laid-back mowhawks. Walking through the medina, residents greet me with a friendly “Hola,” “Bonjour” or “Hello.” They ask me for nothing as I walk the medina alone, except perhaps a visit to their store or restaurant. This must be the friendliest city in Morroco.

I ask for directions to the plaza, and a young boy walks me in the right direction. When I offer him a few dirhams for his effort - a practice expected in cities such as Fes - he takes offense. I feel rude and relaxed at the same time.

The last time I was here was December, and I cozied up to the fireplace in Casa Hassan, a lovely riad just inside the medina. This time I enjoy breakfast on the terrace. In July the pounding heat helps me appreciate the coolness of the blue painted alcoves surrounding doorways in the medina.

The city was setting up for the Chaouen music festival, Alegria Achamalia.
The plaza was cut in half by the stage. It seems every city in Morocco is home to a music festival these days.

But, Chaouen, like every city in Morocco, is not just a Moroccan city. It has a unique mix of influences, not the least of which is Spanish, that surprises our Moroccan friends who are visiting the city for the first time. “I didn’t know…” they say with wonder “…just how relaxed it is here.” Perhaps they expected a small mountain city packed with hash-smoking hippies and accomodations geared towards the same. They find a lovely, clean urban center with cafes and shops lining cobble-stone walkways.

We pull into the city at night, and watch men, women, families, groups, and individuals casually meander the streets. Chefchaouen is the only city in Morocco where let myself get lost in the medina without a not of nervousness in my stomach. I quickly learned residents don’t want to be in my picture frame, but they are happy to have me snap shot after shot of their lovely medina.

“How do you like Chefchaouen?”
“I love it.”
“Thank you. You are welcome here.”
“Thank you.”

Sitting on the beach in Restinga looking at the Mediterranean I imagine Phoenicians sailing their galley ships across from Lebanon to Morocco. The oarsmen could rest on a windy day like today as they sailed their ship westward towards Tingis, modern day Tangiers.

What did Phoenicians bring to Morocco? How did Phoenicians impact Moroccan design? These are questions without clear answers, but that make for lovely seaside daydreams.

According to Berber mythology, the town of Tangier was built by the son of Tingis, a goddess. Tingis was the wife of the giant Anateus, son of Poseidon, and later Hercules. She and the location of Tangiers are associated with the union of the sea and the earth ¹. Tingis was one of many Phoenician colonies in Morocco, the others being Lixus (Larache), Sala (Rabat-Sale), Zili (Asilah), and Mogador (Essaouria) ².

I’ve read that Phoenicians were the first to use the hamsa, the hand talisman that is so commonly seen in Morocco toady, which was used to honor Tanit, the lunar goddess and patron goddess of Carthage. Today the hamsa (five) symbol, is also known as the Hand of Fatima, or Hand of Miriam and has specific meaning in Judaic and Islamic cultures. ⁴.

One website calls the Phoenicians “Missionaries of Civilization.” The Phoenicians were one of the early implementers of the alphabet and their language is the precursor to North African Punic. They wrote many books, none of which survive, but which are quoted in ancient texts that survived from other cultures.

Phoenicians were known for their craftsmanship in metal, ivory, terra cotta, wood, glass, and stone. Yet, Phoenician art is not considered to have any identifying characteristics because of the variety of influences it embodies from the cultures they interacted with through traded. The dominate influences are Egyptian, Greek, and Assyrian. ⁵.

Besides their accomplishments in maritime trade and implementation of the alphabet, Phoenicians developed Tyrian purple pigment from sea snail shells, which was used by Greeks elites to dye their clothing. Mogador (Essaouria) was one of the production centers of this pigment, which could only be obtained by trading with the Phoenicians.

So, what did Phoenicians bring to Morocco? The hamsa talisman? Craftsmanship skills in a variety of mediums? The alphabet? Eastern ideas and products? It is hard to say exactly, because just as archeologists argue of Phoenicians origins, one can argue over the origins of Moroccan art. Both the Phoenicians and Moroccan design are products of a world economy, ethnic diversity, and the movement of people, products, and ideas.

After hanging out at hotels and hanging out of windows trying to pick up a wifi signal, I went to the Wana store in Hassan (Rabat) accross from Yum Yum and bought a wireless modem. It cost 700 dirhams (about $100 USD - ouch, the dollar is low) for the modem and first month of unlimited connectivity. You can buy additional months and pay-as-you-go (Meditel offers a similar service, but at the time they require a two-year plan). Based on the access map I saw at Wana, it looks like it should work along the costal areas of Morocco. You can ask them about coverage, but I don’t expect it would work for a trek through the desert. I’m using it now in Rabat and plan on using it when I get to Restinga, between Tangier and Tetuan.

Since I work as a freelance web designer, this is a very, very good thing for me. A bit pricey, but worth it if you need to work while traveling. Wish I knew about it before I started my travels, so I wanted you to know.

I just bought a bag made of fabric woven from silk and cotton with leather detailing. I bought it from the “purse guy” on Rue des Consuls in the medina Rabat. He has excellent quality bags. If you get to go to Rabat, stop by his shop. I don’t know how to describe the exact location, but you should be able to spot it by the steady flow of customers coming in and out.

I *love* my bag. Its big enough for a full laptop to fit inside without peaking out of the top. The straps are padded so they don’t dig into my shoulder. I added an eight-point star which I also bought in the Rabat medina.

There are lots of interesting bags being made from this type of fabric. I bought a jewelry box and wallet made from the same leather/fabric combination.

The purse guy speaks fluent English and sports a jellaba and beard. He can duplicate anything and is interested in seeing new designs. “Is that a Furla bag?” he asked on my last visit to his store as he inspected my beloved Toscanella tote bag.

If you get a chance to visit his shop, bring your dirhams and your designer bag. He’ll love seeing new designs and you’ll be able to shop from the shelf.

So often in Morocco the exterior door is all you ever get to see of a building; the exterior walls mask the interior structure, which is securely hidden. Riads are designed with windows facing in towards a central salon, so there is no hope of peering-in or guessing what lies inside. Mosques and relilgious buildings are interdit, completely off-limits to me as entrance is forbidden to non-Muslims. Luckily, and consequently, doors in Morocco are beautiful.

The sunlight in Morocco is spectacular. It adds or subtracts from the depth of color. It creates patterns that change through the day so that a simple trellis becomes a thing of wonder.

Watching how the pattern of light changes through a stain glass window, for example, brings insight into the role of geometric design in Moroccan ornament.

Wrought-iron windows, metal lanterns, and archways, which frame both light and darkness, give insight into the cyclical nature of time.

Geometric patterns found in tile work are also created naturally by light as it filters though a window or terrace shade.

Given that Islamic prayer practices require precise understanding of specific time (five prayer times per day) and direction (facing Mecca) it is no wonder that light, during both day and night, has become an integral part of Moroccan ornament. Moroccan lanterns duplicate the effect of the sun passing through the trees or the stars appearing at night, but it is really no substitute for watching the sun filter through a simple tessellation, which shows how time returns.