The Clerk
Fes, Morocco 2009
A small, cubby-hole sized shop in the Fes souk is filled with colorful rayon threads. Moroccan women use these threads to “embroider” their kilim rugs. The salesman calls the thread ‘silk’…if you question him, he will change that to “cactus silk” and, if you question that, you might hear the word rayon.
The tribal Moroccan rug is usually made by poor women in small villages. They have a humble loom in their home or tent or cave and in their spare moments work on their rug. Middle men come to the village, or tent and buy up the finished rugs for a pittance. Perhaps the middle man has a small shop, or he takes a load of rugs to Marrakesh or Fes to sell to a shop owner. Either way, the mark up is horrendous.