Meet the Weavers Behind OwnCrafted
Every rug in our collection begins with a specific woman, in a specific village, at a specific loom in the Atlas Mountains or Haouz plains. This page introduces the cooperatives and traditions our sourcing depends on.
Our Cooperative Network
OwnCrafted works with 8 weaving cooperatives across Morocco, totaling approximately 120 active weavers. We visit each cooperative multiple times per year.
Middle Atlas Mountains — Beni Ourain & Mrirt Cooperatives
The Beni Ourain tribes wove the cream-and-black diamond rugs that Le Corbusier and Charles Eames placed in their studios a century ago. Their tradition is unbroken. Our partner cooperative in the Beni Ourain region includes 22 weavers, all women, ranging in age from 24 to 71.
In the neighboring Mrirt region, we source premium dense-weave rugs from a smaller cooperative of 12 master weavers. Mrirt-tier rugs take 6 to 12 months to complete and command higher prices, but the weavers we work with earn correspondingly higher wages — approximately 60% of the final sale price for a standard Mrirt.
High Atlas Mountains — Azilal Weavers
In the villages surrounding the town of Azilal, we work with two cooperatives totaling 35 weavers. Azilal rugs are the most personally expressive style in our catalog — each weaver composes patterns freely rather than following inherited templates. The bright natural dyes (madder, indigo, walnut, saffron) come from plants gathered locally each summer.
Haouz Plains — Boujaad Cooperative
South of Casablanca, in the town of Boujaad and its surrounding villages, we source the warm rose and terracotta rugs the region is known for. Our Haouz cooperative has 28 weavers and dyers, and it's the only source in our network that dyes wool at scale using traditional copper vats and plant pigments.
Oued Zem — Artisan Craftspeople
Beyond rugs, OwnCrafted works with independent leather artisans, brass smiths, and ceramic potters in the Oued Zem medina. Every homeware product in our catalog is made by a specific workshop we can name, not sourced anonymously from bulk markets.
How We Pay Weavers
OwnCrafted pays weavers 45 to 65% of the final sale price, depending on the rug's complexity and the cooperative's structure. This is 3 to 5 times what most middleman-driven supply chains pay.
Payment is direct and immediate — the weaver receives her portion when the rug is inspected in Oued Zem, not when it eventually sells online. This means weavers are not carrying inventory risk.
We are working toward publishing individual weaver earnings alongside each rug's product page. This kind of full-price transparency is rare in the industry and requires cooperative-level consent, which we are actively negotiating.
The Craft That Made These Rugs
Berber weaving is one of the oldest continuous craft traditions in the world. Archaeological evidence suggests the technique has changed very little in 3,000 years. A rug woven today in the Atlas Mountains uses:
- The same vertical wooden loom design as used in Roman-era North Africa
- The same Berber knot (a variation of the symmetrical Ghiordes knot)
- The same natural dye plants (madder, indigo, walnut, saffron)
- The same drop spindle for hand-spinning yarn
What has changed: the number of women who know the craft. In the 1960s, weaving was nearly universal among rural Berber women. Today, in most villages, it's the older generation only. Younger women are moving to cities for other work.
This is why authentic Moroccan rug production is shrinking every year, and why prices for genuine pieces have been rising steadily. OwnCrafted exists in part to sustain demand for the craft while it still has practitioners.
Sustainability
Handwoven wool rugs are among the most sustainable floor coverings available:
- Zero synthetic fibers — no microplastics shed during cleaning or wear
- Zero chemical treatments — no VOCs off-gassing into your home
- Natural dyes — plant and mineral pigments, no petroleum-based colorants
- Local wool — Atlas Mountain sheep, sheared by hand once per year
- Biodegradable at end of life — pure wool and cotton, no plastics
- 50-100 year lifespan — avoids the replacement cycle of synthetic rugs
Boucherouite rugs, in particular, are made entirely from recycled fabric — upcycling before upcycling had a name.
Meet the Team in Oued Zem
OwnCrafted is a small team based in Oued Zem. We handle sourcing, quality inspection, packaging, and customer service in-house. When you email contact@owncrafted.com, one of us reads your message.
For visits to the workshop, cooperative introductions during travel to Morocco, or specific weaver requests, email contact@owncrafted.com.