SAMPLE, WEAVING

Cactus plant woven fabric

This unusual fabric sample from Northern Morocco was hand made in 2024 by the Berber tribe in the Atlas Mountains from the silk fibres stripped from the Aloe vera cactus plant, which was then, washed, dyed, dried and spun by hand.

This sample was acquired in Morocco in 2024 by a West Australian travel writer.

This rectangular strip of fabric, dyed with saffron, has dull fibre warp and shiny fibre weft. At first glance the weaving appears to be a dobby weave, on closer inspection a diamond pattern can be discerned, which represents “Power in union”. The remains of an applied design can be seen, and a wisp of silk is loose.

DONATION of CACTUS FABRIC PROVENANCE #2024.131

by Steve Scourfield, The West Australian Travel Editor

Marrakesh mosque & blind shop Stephen Scourfield September 2023

I meet a man called Mohammed in a street in Marrakesh, and ask him about Mosque Abu Bakr, the oldest in this Moroccan city, and about a particular shop that supports the blind people who gather around the mosque, seeking support.

I'm in the vicinity of the Mellah of Marrakesh, in the kasbah area of the city's medina, east of Place des Ferblantiers, but the tight alleyways in this very old quarter ofMarrakesh are a maze more than 1000 years old. It's easy to get lost and an area where you generally don't see tourists.

Mohammed leads me down a couple of tight streets before we come out onto a bigger one. "Down there," he says. "Six hundred metres. Then right. Then look for the poor people". "Shukran," I say, thanking him, and he touches his heart and I touch mine and we part as brothers.

And, as I get close, there they are, the poor people. They stand around in groups in silence, by little clusters of found goods for sale on a pavement. I don't take my phone out. I don't photograph these people or their meagre, well-worn offerings. Each "shop" might have just half a dozen mis-matched items.

"They are very poor," says Mustafa, another local who I know fall into step with, who has a job in a garden, and learnt English off passers-by, writing down difficult words on a piece of paper.

I ask Mustafa about the mosque and the shop, too. Mosque Abu Bakr is named for Almoravid leader Abu Bakr ibn Umar who founded this city in 1070. The shop has no name and is also in an alleyway with no name. It opens one day every two weeks, to sell goods made by co-operatives in villages in the High Atlas Mountains. Fifteen per cent of the sale price goes to the mosque to be distributed to the blind. Yes, Mustafa knows the shop, and we head first to the mosque, where blind people line the walls in the shade. Those in need of help around the mosque don't ask for money - don't beg. Donations are given to the mosque and distributed.

We are told that the shop is open (as I'd heard, in a local whisper, that it might be) and set off through the alleyways. Its single, narrow doorway is only just more elaborate than those around it, and there is no sign. But Yasim bin Alli is there to greet us. He has come to open the shop on this auspicious day, to sell goods from the Berber village of Falwatte.

It is the fabrics I'm most interested in, as most are from "cactus silk", which is also known as vegetable silk or Sabra silk, and is woven from the fibres of a plant from the agave family. This plant-derived silk is harvested from Saharan aloe vera cacti in northern Morocco. The silk fibres are stripped by hand from the plants, washed, dyed, dried and then spun by hand using a simple wooden bobbin. The threads are hand-woven by the Berber tribe in the Atlas Mountains - a long and delicate process. The cactus silk fabrics are dyed with natural mineral or vegetable dyes and weavers then often do free-hand embroidery. Berber people are nomadic, and the fibre is light. It is made into rugs which are much easier to carry than heavy carpets. The cactus fibre is also non-allergenic and fire retardant... Yasim gets out his cigarette lighter to prove it.

The dyes are from plants or rocks, Yasim explains. Blue-grey from cobalt, dark blue from Indigo, black from "mascara black stone", red from poppies, gold from saffron, and the white is the natural colour of the cactus fibre.

The symbols on them are from Berber culture too. There is an eye, to protect from evil, a symbolic table welcoming guests, and a diamond shape representing power in union.

As we sip the sweet, green-and-mint tea in a glass that is important to welcoming a guest, as part of Berber culture.

Berbers were the first people in Morocco, before Arabic people came. Berbers remain the largest ethnic group in Marrakech, and the whole of Morocco, with Arabic people next. Yet Arabic is the main language, with French second. Many people speak a third or fourth language, including English. Indeed, the culture in Marrakech is a fusion of Berber, Arab and Islamic influences.

The city was founded around 1070 by the Almoravids, an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty. Its early history is that of Berber tribes. In 1147, Marrakech was taken over by the Almohads - a new Berber dynasty from north Africa. They followed the Masmuda Berber Ibn Tumart, who claimed to be the Mahdi ("the rightly chosen") - their name meaning "those who affirm the unity of God". Most religious buildings were destroyed and they began building the city's Koutoubia mosque.

Over the following centuries, many battles were fought for Marrakech by Arabs and Berbers, with help from the French.

This moment won't be complete without a purchase, and Yasim and I settle into the barter procedure for a piece of the cactus fibre fabric. "We barter for everything in Morocco," says Yasim, and there's a formal three-offer system. Yasim gets out his notebook, which has a line vertically down the centre of the page, and three across, horizontally, creating six boxes. In the top left box, he writes down his opening price for a piece of fabric, which is ridiculously high. In the box top-right, I write down my counter offer, which is a third of his number, and ridiculously low. (Don't be concerned about offending vendors by offering low.) In the middle box on the left, Yasim lowers his price, and in the box next to it, I raise mine a little. We settle on a price which is half of his opener. And I'm delighted.

I apply cultural fabrics to jackets, and this will add to my long-standing collection. Each fabric has to have a story-a point - and this piece has many. I leave the shop and, as I walk away, turn and glance over my shoulder and can hardly even discern which doorway it was. It seems sort-of magical. As if it was there, and is now gone.

I thank Mustafa for helping me to fine it. "Don't thank me. Thank God for bringing us together to do good," Mustafa says.