Seksu Checkered and Mosaic Moroccan Rug

Tumbled stones on a shore, pink against yellow against black, pressed together. Seksu is couscous in Amazigh; this checkered Berber rug packs its field like the grain: small tiles crowded together. Weavers once counted the grains out by eye. Zarbish knots it now.

The small tiles are tied in different sizes, some a knot or two wider than their neighbors, so the rows wander as they cross the field. Between the tiles the ground shows as thin lines of a lighter tone, and the pile is tall enough to lean over them when it is brushed one way.