Who makes Zarbish rugs?

A team of weavers at our workshop knots every rug, one knot at a time.

What looms do the weavers use?

Upright steel looms, 16 ft (490 cm) wide. Only the loom is modern; every knot is still tied by hand.

Our workshop

Inside the workshop

How Zarbish makes its rugs: the weavers, the place and every step from raw wool to the day a rug ships.

Close view of Zahra, a hand-knotted Boujaad rug in orange, pink and teal wool

The team

The weavers

The workshop is in Beni Mrirt, a town that gave its name to a rug style. Weavers work there, paid fairly for every rug they knot.

They take every step by hand, from the design to the final cut, and every collection is knotted here: Beni Ourain and Boujaad designs as well as the sculpted rugs of Terrain. Zarbish runs it all, so every rug goes from the loom to you directly.

Where: The Middle Atlas, Morocco
Who: A complete team of weavers
Materials: Natural wool

For the ideas behind the designs, read our story.

The making

Eight steps

From the raw wool to the last look before it ships, every step happens in the same workshop.

Close view of the undyed ivory wool pile of Tadelakt, a hand-knotted Beni Ourain rug

Step 1: Preparing the wool

100% natural wool, with the color put in before the loom.

The color runs through the pile rather than sitting on the surface like a print.

Warda, a handmade pink Moroccan rug folded to show the dyed color running through its wool pile

Step 2: Dyeing with natural dyes

Natural plant and mineral dyes, fixed so the color does not transfer or shift with use.

A design that calls for color takes it here, and the final wash checks every color against the design before the rug ships.

A hand-knotted round Beni Ourain rug in a living room

Step 3: Designing for the shape

Each design is composed for its shape, Classic, round or runner.

The classic rug, the circle and the long runner each get their own composition, so the three versions differ slightly from one another.

A weaver knotting a rug at an upright loom

Step 4: Setting up the loom

An upright steel loom, its warp strung to your confirmed width before the first knot.

Steel is the modern form of the traditional wooden loom; the knotting itself is unchanged. Four of your choices are already on the loom: the size, the design and its palette, the pile height and the tassels.

Close view of the hand-knotted wool pile of Zahra, an orange and pink Boujaad rug

Step 5: Knotting by hand

Knotted by hand, row by row, so densely that the pattern shows on the back.

Weavers tie each tuft of wool around the warp and build the rug upward. Our knotting runs at a high density, fine enough for a thin lattice in Jibal or a small tiled repeat in Mozaik.

More in how handmade shows in the knots.

Tadla, a rose and peach Beni Mrirt rug, folded to show the clipped pile

Step 6: Clipping and finishing

The pile clipped to your height, edges and tassels finished by hand.

Off the loom, weavers clip the pile to the height you chose: short, medium or shag. On Terrain’s sculpted designs they carve the pattern into the surface, so it reads through height as well as color. Tassels are completed if your order includes them.

A road in the hills of Morocco's Middle Atlas, where the washed rugs dry in the sun and mountain air

Step 7: Washing and sun drying

Washed once the last cut is made.

Then it dries in the sun and mountain air, before the final look.

Close view of the pile and pattern of Tichka, an ivory and black hand-knotted rug

Step 8: Final inspection

A last look against the design, and it ships.

A hand-knotted rug may vary from the confirmed dimensions by about 1.2 to 1.6 in, the natural tolerance of handwork.

How Moroccan rugs are made, in depth →Caring for the wool →

Sustainability

Made fairly, kept longer

How we work toward that today.

No child labor
No child works on any step of making our rugs, from the wool to the final trim.
Around 60 direct jobs
Skilled craft work today, from preparing the wool to finishing the rug, and we mean to add more as Zarbish grows.
Color from the fleece
Ivory, charcoal, camel and brown are the sheep's own colors and reach the loom undyed. Black is dyed; every other color is dyed in step 2.
Safe underfoot
The dyes are non-toxic, free of synthetic chemicals and safe for children and pets.
Knotted once ordered
Today each design goes on the loom after it is ordered, so no stock is knotted ahead to wait for a buyer.
Wears slowly
Dense, hand-knotted wool holds up, so one rug can stay in a home through many changes of decor.

Your order

On the loom

How long each size takes.

3-4
weeks
3x5 to 4x6 ft
4-5
weeks
5x8 to 6x9 ft
5-6
weeks
8x10 to 9x12 ft
6-8
weeks
Over 9x12 ft
3-4
weeks
Runners, all sizes

Delivery adds 3-7 business days after production.

When your place starts

Catalog sizes: The day you order a catalog design in a standard size.
Custom sizes: Once you confirm the exact dimensions in writing. Production takes the same weeks as a standard rug of that size.
Custom designs: Once you approve the mockup in writing; production takes one week longer than a standard rug of the same size.
Trade projects: For multi-piece projects we confirm a schedule against current production before you commit.

Trade program →Start your custom rug →Size guide →