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

The beautiful colours of naturally dyed wool at the weavers's.

Les belles couleurs de la laine teinte naturellement chez les tisserands.

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

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

Artisans in Tangier-Les artisans de Tanger

There are amazing artisans in Morocco. They love what they do and are rightfully proud of their work. They work in cramped quarters, have no specific work hours and there does not seem to be rules and regulations for safety on the job. They work hard and are geniuses at making tools out of anything they can find.

Il existe de formidables artisans au Maroc. Ils aiment ce qu'ils font et sont fiers de leur travail, une fierté bien justifiée. It travaillent dans des locaux exigus, n'ont pas d'horaires définis et il ne semble pas qu'il y ait de règlementation concernant la sécurité au travail. Leur ingéniosité pour fabriquer des outils à partir de rien n'a pas d'égal.

This young cobbler is deaf and mute, understands what you want in a second and smiles constantly. His "screwdriver in the crocodile's jaw" technique for gluing shoes is simple but ingenious. 

Ce jeune cordonnier sourd-muet pige tout, tout de suite et sourit constamment. Sa technique du "tournevis dans la gueule du crocodile" pour recoller les semelles est simple mais ingénieuse. 

His boss is quiet, methodical and makes bespoke shoes in a few days on an old sewing machine. In the forefront are the all-leather shoes he made for me in two days: pure comfort and can't beat the price.

Son patron est calme, méthodique et fait des chaussures sur mesures en quelques heures sur une vieille machine à coudre. En premier plan, les chaussures tout-cuir qu'il m'a faites: rapport qualité-prix imbattable.

This tinsmith's shop is no larger than a closet and just as badly lit. Nevertheless he turns out hand-hammered trays and lamps in brass or Maillechort (nickel silver), a copper, nickel and tin mixture invented by two Frenchmen, Maillet and Chorier in 1819.
L'échoppe de ce ferblantier n'est pas plus grande qu'un placard et tout aussi mal éclairée. Neanmoins, il arrive à produire des plateaux et des lampes en cuivre ou en Maillechort, un alliage de cuivre, nickel et zinc mis au point par deux français, Maillet et Chorier en 1819. 

These two men spend their working hours peeling the shells off fresh shrimp. The speed at which they complete their task is breathtaking. It's all in the flip of the wrist. That pile took a minute to peel.

Ces deux hommes écaillent des crevettes à longueur de journée. La vitesse à laquelle ils accomplissent leur tâche est hallucinante. Tout dans le poignet. Cette pile de crevette n'a pris qu'une minute.

The thread spinner makes the spools of thread for the weavers. His home-made device is actually a bicycle wheel on a wood frame. Here, he is joining threads from the three large bobbins that converge on a hook above him. He then hand twists them and rolls them on the rotating spool.

Le tourneur de fil prépare les bobines que le tisserand lancera entre les fils de la trame pendant le tissage. Son rouet est en fait une roue de vélo sur un cadre en bois fait maison. Ici, il réunit les fils des trois grosses bobines vertes. Ces fils convergent sur un clou au-dessus de lui et il les roule à la main sur la petite bobine.

The embroider in his 9 by 9 ft. shop. No heating, one neon light yet beautiful totally handmade embroidery in record time.

Le brodeur dans sa minuscule échoppe. Pas de chauffage, un unique néon et pourtant des broderies magnifiques en  un rien de temps.

The hook held by a piece of cloth around his knee enables him to steady the fabric as he works.

Le crochet tenu par un morceau de tissu autour de son genou lui permet de stabiliser l'étoffe pendant qu'il brode.

Some of his embroidery made by sewing fine hand-spun "sabra" cord in graceful arabesques on the fabric. Sabra is a synthetic silky thread widely used in Morocco for weaving and embroidering.

Une de ses techniques de broderies faite à l'aide d'une fine cordelette de "sabra" faite main et cousue sur le tissu. Le sabra est une fibre synthétique soyeuse utilisée pour le tissage et la broderie au Maroc.

The "nougat" maker on rue des Sagines in the medina. Nougat is a white toffee made with sugar and honey and mixed with almonds, pistachios or hazelnuts. This man makes the toffee by hand and sells it in chunks he carves out with a hatchet. He is so famous that the line sometime stretches halfway down the street.
Le marchand de nougat de la rue des Sagines fait cette sucrerie à la main et la vend par morceaux qu'il débite à l'aide d'une hache. Il est si célèbre que la queue pour en acheter s'étend parfois tout le long de la rue.

Images: Joelle Desparmet

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

A man carrying water. Prayer is over. Time to go back to work in the foundouk.

Le porteur d'eau chez les tisserands. La prière est terminée. Le travail reprend doucement dans le foundouk.

Image: Sylvie Pellet

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