Monday's eye on Tangier-Le coup d'oeil du lundi sur Tanger

Weaving bright blue cotton in Tangier.

Bleu Klein d'un métier à tisser à Tanger.

Image: Joelle Desparmet

Monday's eye on Tangier-Le coup d'oeil du lundi sur Tanger

This man makes the spools for the weavers. He does only that, every day, all day. He looks up when you greet him and smiles shyly. Then he concentrates on his task again.

Cet homme prépare les quenouilles pour les tisserands. Il ne tisse pas lui-même. Il ne fait que ça tous les jours, toute la journée. Lorsque vous le saluez, il relève la tête et sourit timidement puis il se concentre de nouveau sur sa tâche.

Image: Joelle Desparmet

Wool weaving in Tangier-Le travail de la laine à Tanger

As you may have guessed, I am fascinated by the weavers of foundouk Chejra in Tangier. Their centuries old techniques, their know-how and their ingenuity combined with amazing artistry is always a subject of awe.

Comme vous avez dû le deviner, je suis fascinée par les tisserands du foundouk Chejra à Tanger. Leurs techniques ancestrales, leur savoir-faire et leur ingéniosité de même que leur incroyable sens artistique me ravissent chaque fois plus.

Here are some tools they use. They make spools for the looms on old bicycles wheels…

Ils font les quenouilles sur des roues de vélos…

The spools are attached to hand carved shuttles that time and years of use have polished to perfection…

Les quenouilles sont insérées sur des navettes faites à la main que le temps et des années d'utilisation ont polies à la perfection...

And the result is stunning and always a bit irregular as are all true works of art.

Le résultat est magnifique et toujours un peu imparfait comme toute véritable oeuvre d'art.

..

Images: Joelle Desparmet

Monday's eye on Tangier-Le coup d'oeil du lundi sur Tanger

Uncertain sky at the Foundouk Chejra in Tanger and an army of satellite dishes watching.

Ciel incertain au Foundouk Chejra de Tanger et une armée de paraboles qui surveillent.

Image: Joelle Desparmet

Mohamed the Weaver-Mohamed le Tisserand

Mohamed is an artist. Not just any artist, a weaving artist. He creates amazing textiles and mixes colours like no other. He just does it on his own time so don't expect him to produce on order for a specific date. You have to take what is there or be very patient, but when it's done you have something fantastic.

Mohamed est un artiste mais pas n'importe quel artiste. C'est un artiste tisserand. Il crée des textiles incroyables dans des couleurs sublimes. Le truc c'est qu'il fait ça à son propre rythme donc il ne faut pas commander quelque chose pour une date précise. Il faut prendre ce qu'il a ou être très patient. Mais le résultat vaut bien l'attente.

The sign inside his workshop says:"Welcome to the most colourful shop in Foundak Shejra. Handmade by Mohamed. High thread count!" 

Son enseigne dit: "Bienvenue dans la magasin le plus coloré du Foundouk Chejra. Fait à la main par Mohamed. Travail de qualité."

Mohamed started weaving when he was 13. His father, his grandfather and his great grandfather were also weavers. He says his father who died recently, taught him everything he knows about weaving. That's him on the photograph.
Mohamed a commencé à tisser à l'âge de 13 ans. Son père, son grand-père et son arrière grand-père étaient aussi tisserands et c'est son père, qui est mort récemment, qui lui a appris le métier. C'est lui sur la photo.

Mohamed weaves fantastic stuff in wool, cotton, jute and linen. The whole family is involved. His wife, sons and other family members weave, embroider and make tassels.

Mohamed tisse des choses merveilleuses avec de la laine, du coton, du jute et du lin. Toute la famille participe. Sa femme, ses fils et d'autres membres de la famille tissent, brodent et font des pompons.

That's his lunch there: mint tea, a snack and Sidi Ali, the local spring water. No wonder he is so thin.

Ça, c'est son repas: du thé à la menthe, un casse-croute et l'eau de source locale, SidiAli. Pas étonnant qu'il soit si mince.

Images: Joelle Desparmet

Random Colours and patterns of Morocco (Tangier)

Colours are present at every corner in Morocco. The simplest event is turned into an art exhibition or a poetic vignette by the association of soft or bright hues drawn from nature and everyday objects.

Touches of peach contrast with the greys of the intricate carved plaster work on the ceiling of the grand El Minzah Hotel in Tangier.

Soft pastels at the modest, quirky and so charming Chez Abdou beachside restaurant near Tangier.

Harmonious assortment of brights and lights of hand-knit wool caps at a weavers' shop at foundouk Chejra in the medina of Tangier.

The geometric design of reed parasols at L'Océan  Beach Club on the Atlantic Ocean near Tangier.

Similar colours and patterns on a Moroccan rug and a South African straw bowl in the living room.

                               Matching table cover and olives mounds at an outdoor village market in the north of Morocco.

The simple beauty of the blooms of a plumbago capensis climbing a blue facade.

Images: Joelle Desparmet

The weavers of Tangier

There is a place in Tangier that is textile heaven. It is called Foundouk Chejra. A foundouk is a sort of market place. Traditionally, a foundouk had a ground-floor open courtyard where people came to sell their wares on donkey or camel back.

This particular foundouk was built at the beginning of the twentieth century at the time of the international status of Tangier, the colonial era when different countries "managed" the city. 

Nowadays the court yard is covered and vendors in tiny stalls sell everything from fluorescent shampoo and pots and pans from China, to flowery tea sets and fake Nikes from who knows where.

In the upper gallery were rooms where travellers could stay for the night.

These small rooms are now weavers' workshops where beautiful textiles are woven out of wool, cotton, jute and sabra, a shiny silk-like synthetic thread.

This man still makes the traditional thick sheep wool striped hooded coats men wear in winter. 

The "workshops" hold one loom and there is a second one on a windowless mezzanine just above. The looms are activated by foot and the spools thrown from one side to the other by hand. One man throws it between the thread to the other man, the foot pedal is activated alternating the threads and the other man sends it back to the first man and so on, hours on end.

 The industrial revolution never made it to Foundouk Chejra! Our gain.

On the gallery floor, men make the spools for the weavers by mixing threads together. The wheel comes from a bike and the rest of the contraption is hand made from old wood planks.

These young boys were also making spools to help out their dad much like we mowed the lawn or washed the car when we were kids. The little guy in the striped shirt and cap was a French tourist who wanted to learn how and although they could not understand the other's language the boys were able to understand each other through a sort of improvised sign language. If only the negociations at the UN were this easy and this friendly!

This one was making the tassles on hand towels my sister had ordered for her company abanja. We made sure he was only helping and was going to school normally. School is not compulsory in Morocco and child labour is not uncommon. 

The result: hand woven, embroidered and tasselled towels ready for the bathroom.

Table mats in fluorescent colours (Abanjà)

Wool and cotton throws in earthy colours

All the bedspreads and curtains for the house were made in the foundouk.We just chose the dimensions, the exact thread colours and the precise size of the stripes and came back three days later and voilà!

I also had extra long curtains made for my 12 ft ceiling living room in Montreal and brought (lugged!) them back in my luggage.

Foutas from the abanjà collection facing the ocean.

Hah! What I would give to be on that beach today!

    Photos: Sylvie Pellet, Jeanne-Aelia Desparmet-Hart, Joelle Desparmet