Shopping for carpets!

It is almost impossible for me to walk past a carpet shop in morocco without at least having a look
and
strange as it may sound,
possibly even stroking the odd beni, azilal or boujaad!!
Luckily I am planning a trip to Assilah and Tangier in the next few weeks - and I will most definitely be wandering around the souks and medinas to stock up on a few pieces for shouf!{look!}

So . . .

if you are looking for a particular design

or colour

size or shape,

just let me know.

I would love to do some personal shopping for you while I am there.

x

Follow me on INSTAGRAM to see the places I go and the people I meet.

{moroccan} carpets in the bathroom

While the steadfastly practical amongst you might rise an eyebrow at the thought of throwing a carpet down in the bathroom   . . .  I say just think of it as a rather more luxurious bath-mat!
I've put together a little gallery of carpeted bathroom inspiration for you:
which is your favourite?

 Moroccan Boucherouite carpets are pretty high on the boho trend list and these colourful carpets are really well suited to the bathroom as most of them are simple cotton rag rugs and easy to clean and dry out after a soak in the tub!

 Another Boucherouite that adds a wonderful splash of colour to this bathroom.

This lovely diamond pattern boucherouite would be perfect in a bathroom with its relatively flat weave.

a little co-ordinated drama leading up to this black bath
(I do like this bath!)

Pattern on pattern - carpet on tile - it all works!

And finally - these organic cactus-silk carpets are top of my list at the moment - because they are a flat weave and cotton mix they are also hard wearing and quick to dry out if they get a few splashes from that shower behind those beautiful wooden doors.
SHOP HERE

(all credits for images via)

x

a boucherouite & a helping hand

The Boucherouite carpets, traditionally made from scraps of fabric by the resourceful women of Morocco, have been on trend and featured in magazine shoots and Pinterest boards for some time now.

And at the risk of sounding a little cliched, 

they are, in my opinion, the perfect element to add a colourful note of "boho-chic" to a contemporary home far away from the Atlas mountains.

 I have sent personally sourced rugs from the medina of Assilah to America, South Africa and England where they sit prettily in their foreign surrounds.

image via 

With this in mind I thought I would try a little boucherouite designing myself in collaboration with Darna Womens Community Centre in Tangier which provides both a safe harbour and a training centre for women and girls in the community. 

And this is what we came up with . . .

A taupe, chartreuse and chocolate boucherouite which is beautifully woven and is as pretty underneath as it is on top - traditionally sides were changed according to the season.

This Boucherouite is now on sale in my shop SHOUF! and can be proudly labelled FairTrade!

and

10% of Boucherouite sales will go straight back to Darna and their training programme.

more information and images of Boucherouite carpets can be found HERE and HERE

x

shopping the blues . . .

There seems to be a whole lot of blue out there this week - or is it just my facebook feed??

image via : majorelle blues

I love following the creations of Australian jewellery designer Birdie Hill - she always uses beautiful and inspiring images - this was her contribution to the blues this week!

And then my friend Marianne added this blue note to the mix - one of her RedDog designs in this great colour - I might have to trade in my red for a blue!
and finally this morning I saw this blue boucherouite carpet which I decided I had to add to my collection on
Shouf!

so a blue week , but not in a bad way!
and ending in theme - a bit of Blue Velvet by Lana Del Rey.

x

SHOUF! {look!}

shouf-shouf . . . 

come and look! 

 the merchants would call as you walked past their shop in the medina!

image by Hassan Hajjaj via

It has been a process of some internal debate - but I have decided to venture back into the domain of merchants and makers selling their wares on this amazing world wide web of ours.

I have loved creating tea-in-tangiers, and immersing myself in pretty pictures and {at times} poetic words . . .  but over the last few months I have had this nagging pre-occupation to turn it into something a little more economically viable.

And so this - along with the fact that I am unable to walk past a carpet shop without touching, remarking, and generally wanting to re-home all the merchandise,

resulted in  . . .

http://shouf.bigcartel.com/products

For a collection of both traditional and contemporary Moroccan textiles and design.

 I am starting off in the realm of carpets but plan to broaden our horizons in the near future.

I cannot take any credit for the name.

Omar, who has taught me pretty much all I know about Moroccan carpets, came up with the name  when we were discussing the idea of me getting back into the market place.

He explained how in days gone by this was like a catch phrase for traders trying to catch the passers by - shouf-shouf, come and see . . . 

So please stop by

shouf

have a look

image via

And share - your support would make my day!

x

Pauline

shouf.bigcartel.com

Searching for a Boucherouite

Well its official . . .

August has come to an end, September is upon us 

and so the blogging begins!

It has been a wonderfu sun and family filled few weeks,

 but I must confess that I have managed a few forays into the medina in search of the perfetly {imperfect} Boucherouite carpet for a friend.

This has involved sifting through the piles and stacks of carpets on display

A hard job as they say, but somebody has to do it!

And it seemed a shame that out of all these beautiful and painterly creations, we could only choose one.
So I thought I would show them around and see if anyone else would like to buy a boucherouite or two.
If you fancy a little colour from morocco in your home,
handcrafted from lifes scraps and cast offs.
Have a look here and see what you think!

It does seem a pity to leave them piled up in the medina
when one of them could be casting a colourful hue across your floor.
For more information , sizes, pricing contact me directly on email or message me.
(paulinebrettell@gmail.com)

And if none of these take your fancy, I am sure we can find one that does!

LINKS

Read more about these carpets on the decor8 blog HERE

&
on SF Girl by Bay writes about them HERE and HERE

while
 Igor from Happy Interior Blog mentions them HERE

The Boucherouite

the slightly more bohemian cousin of the Beni Ourain . . .?

via

I was going through some photographs yesterday - the ones still sitting on my camera  . . .      

    (yes, organising images is yet another thing to add to an ever-growing 'to do' list)

 when I saw these pictures I took last year of some Boucherouite rugs on the medina wall of Assilah.

 The wall is an extension of my friend Omar's carpet shop, 

 a place where I have spent many an hour wading through his seemingly endless collection of carpets!

A far cry from the trendsetting heavyweight of Moroccan rugs, the Beni Ourain,

 but a bit more fun possibly?Now  I must confess to initially having been a little unsure of the often crazy designs, the wildly tangential colours, not to mention the whole rag thing . . . 

 But I am now a convert, and in no small measure I would suspect this is as a result of seeing them transformed when taken out of the medina and placed in less cluttered and more contemporary environments.

via

via

I think they are perfect for childrens rooms  - the bright patterns, the rags, can all take a bit of wear and tear and even the odd spatter of fingerpaint without a family crisis ensuing . . .

via

if you want one for your own home
 have a look  and shop here

If you want to know a little more about the history and production of these particular rugs,

 have a look here 

This website www.berber-arts.com 

is a great reference site for these and other Moroccan carpets

for links and credits, as well as more images

 have a look at our Pinterest board Moroccan Style and Design

or pop across to SF Girl by Bay 

and read her post : You Say Rug, I Say Boucherouite