Henri Crouzet founded the Thanakra gallery in 1995 with the idea of making the french market more conscious and open to the originality and diversity of the moroccan tribal weavings, and more specifically rugs and textiles. Starting in 1994, he has travelled the Moroccan back country to gather data and witnesses of this folk art. Each of his about 50 trips has been the occasion to discover new areas, traditional weaving practices and above all collect field information (that very few local dealers care for) that disappears along with the oldest generations.
Today, and beyond rugs and textiles, Thanakra also offers a few artefacts from the daily life of the Moroccan bled, as well as some African art items .


A new interest for tribal rugs of Morocco

"Discovered" and first registered during the 1920/1930's under the authority of the Indigenous Arts Service of the French Protectorate, Moroccan rural rugs became again a center of attention in the early 1970's with some U.S. collectors. In 1980, the Washington Textile Museum had an exhibition dedicated to moroccan weavings: "From the Far West: Carpets and Textiles of Morocco". Then came austrian, swiss and french amateurs whose interest led to the publishing of two books in the early 90's, on this same topic. The first major event to occur was in 1995 the first ICOC (International Conference on Oriental Carpets) in Marrakech, fully dedicated to weavings of northern Africa, followed by a second one again in Marrakech in September 2001. In the meantime and since then, several books have been published and exhibitions taken place in France, USA, Switzerland, Belgium and Holland. Currently, two exhibitions are on going: a temporary one in the Bargoin museum in Clermont-Ferrand (central France) dealing with textiles from all of northern Africa, and the permanent section of the Quai Branly museum in Paris, showing a selection of old moroccan tribal rugs and textiles, all exceptional.


Where the tribal rugs originate

Most of the moroccan tribal rugs are of berber origin, only those from the Haouz of Marrakech and Tadla plain having an arabic ascent owing to the local tribes history. Tribal rugs are fundamentally different from the trade carpets: the laters are part of a commercial process where demand dictates the rugs characteristics (size, designs, colors, architecture) and wool quality ( machine made vs hand made), and thereby pre-empt the weaver's implication in the final appearance and touch. The formers are unique by nature: every rug is made for a specific location, with the family wool that is unevenly available timewise, hence washed/combed/spun/dyed with varying conditions and results. Their design may vary at any time of the weaving process, precision of design is not a fundamental requirement, and neither is symetry. This very last element, symetry, is usually horizontal , hardly vertical, as in all "primitive" rugs: they essentially are the piling up of stripes of motives, with no frame to close the field, as is experienced with city rugs.

Tribal rugs are "domestic" art, meant to mix beauty, practicality and confort; they are always composed, defined with a positive approach, intended to protect and favour the household. Their very conception is the source of their "charme", this unimitable dimension that repetition cannot attain.