Unveiling the Spring 2020 collection of Kantara rugs

March 8, 2020

I'm bringing these beauties back from a recent trip to Morocco. The first half of the trip was touring with Smithsonian Journeys as their Morocco expert; the second half of the trip was leading a private tour as a fixer for Mikael Kennedy who was on assignment. In between I managed to sneak away and pick some new Moroccan rugs for my growing (!) collection in Los Angeles.

There are a variety of rugs in this batch. Some of the ones that stand out are the kharita "map" rugs that are from the south-eastern part of Morocco. These kharita rugs that I picked up are flat-weave kilims on a grey background that is made from carding together the black and white sheep's wool. These kilims are further embellished with delicate patterns and designs woven and embroidered on top of them.

From this same region, there's a style of weaving called "Zanafi" that traditionally only appeared as a wide band that ran laterally throughout the Glaoui rugs. Now you can see full rugs made with the zanafi black and white twining.

There are a few smaller pieces in this batch that I hold up and are double faced. I have a few more coming in the next batch. Check out the video below for a preview of the new collection, and stay tuned for more!

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