The Anmoon Weaving Co-op Now Open for Business

David Deiss is a rare book dealer with a business in America, but for the past five years he has been spending his winters in Taroudant working with a local charity that assists the families in crisis - particularly those with substance abuse issues. He began working with several of the mothers who are experienced weavers (most of whom are from around Tazenacht). They have been making unusual boucherouite bags, pillows and rugs for several years. Now the women have opened up a small shop in Taroudant

The project is a true co-operative with David purchasing the looms and supplies and paying the women for their work (far in excess of what can be obtained working on the farms here). They generally work at home to be closer to their families, but now they have a weaver working in the shop now.

The View from Fez was impressed and so asked David to tell us about the project

David Deiss - The Anmoon Co-op - in his own words:

I came to Taroudant in 2009 to assist a British charity (Moroccan Children’s Trust) in its efforts to try and understand the growing problem of street children and the epidemic of glue-sniffing here. I worked with a local woman who interviewed about 70 of the kids and some of their families and from this research we developed a plan to try and assist these families in ways that previously had not been explored.

Over the past several years, the trust and its local counterpart have developed a wide range of programs that attempt to strengthen the families and provide long term support. The group now has a pre-school program, sports activities, after-school assistance, a women’s group, assistance with obtaining identity papers, a “big-brother/sister” style program for intensive work with individual kids and various other projects.

Through my involvement with this group, I began to work with a small group of women who were involved in the project and were extremely talented weavers. We began making boucherouite rugs (made from a variety of wool, fabric and raffia) and slowly developed a variety of other woven products.

Now, four years later, we have a very impressive and unique collection of stylish bags, pillows and rugs and we continue to expand our range of products. We recently opened a small boutique in Taroudant and are off to a good start in developing a local market. Anmoon (an Amazigh Berber word meaning “together”) is a true co-operative- the women work in their homes so that they can maintain their family lives and are paid for their work. All of the proceeds from sales are returned to the group and they decide what they will do with their earnings.

The shop in Taroudant also houses a loom where some of the women also work. In addition to our bags, pillows and rugs, we are happy to accept custom orders- we use many unique materials that I have collected in mountain souks, as well as in my wanderings in Europe and America. All of the work is unlike anything that is available elsewhere and we are always open to new ideas.

For more info check out their website (www.anmoon.com)
The shop is open regular hours in the Leblalia district of Taroudant
Phone  +212 (0) 6 13 30 84 13.

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The Great Mosque of Taroudant Devastated by Huge Fire

Taroudant's Grand Mosque was ravaged on Tuesday morning by a huge fire. According to authorities the fire began in a carpet following an electrical a short circuit. The historic building, dating from the 16th century, saw the flames reach its foundations and entire sections continue to crumble. 

The fire was attended by the civil protection authorities including Taroudant firefighters. The governor of the province, Fouad Mhamedi, rushed to the scene of the blaze and expressed relief that there did not appear to be any loss of life or injuries.

A group of experts and technicians, including engineers from the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, will today begin the technical evaluation of the damage to the mosque.

Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, Ahmed Toufiq, who was quick to visit the scene with Fouad Mhamedi, insisted that reconstruction would take place; "We will make it again with all the aesthetic luster and noble architectural grandeur that made the mosque the pride of Taroudant and Morocco," said Toufiq. "We want every piece of this mosque," he insisted.

Taroudant (Arabic: تارودانت‎) is located in the Sous Valley in the southern part of the country. It is situated east of Agadir on the road to Ouarzazate and the Sahara desert and south of Marrakech. It is called the "Grandmother of Marrakech" because it looks like a smaller Marrakech with its surrounding ramparts. In the sixteenth century the Saadians briefly used Taroudant as a capital, before they moved onwards to Marrakech. Today it has the feel of a small fortified market town on a caravan route.

The city is known for its local crafts, including jewelry and carpets.

Unlike Marrakech, almost the entire city of Taroudant is located inside its walls. A new part of the city is being developed outside the city walls around the campus of a faculty of the Ibn Zohr University of Agadir.

Under the Saadi Dynasty Taroudant had its golden age, particularly under the reign of Mohammed ash-Sheikh. He constructed the city walls and built the great mosque and its minaret in 1528.

Considered the largest mosque in the Saadian dynasty, the Great Mosque of Taroudant could hold up to 4,000 worshipers. It was particularly famous for its 27-meter high minaret, the square shape was inspired by that of the Kaaba in Mecca (Saudi Arabia).

It was renewed in the reign of Mohamed Sheikh Saadi in the middle of the sixteenth century.
The town became the capital of the Saadians who used it as a base to attack the Portuguese in Agadir. Although they later made Marrakech their capital, they made the town prosper through the riches of the Sous plain, marketing goods such as sugar cane, cotton, rice and indigo


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Artist Claudio Bravo dies in Morocco

Morocco Board News reports that the painter Claudio Bravo died Saturday, June 4 at the city of Taroudant, at the age of 74. Installed in Morocco since 1972, he will most likely be buried in Taroudant, which he considered his second home.

To escape the hectic life of a busy artist in Madrid, the Chilean-born painter Claudio Bravo moved to Morocco where he had three homes: in Taroudant, a house dubbed "the refuge of the artist" - a fortress against the outside world; in Marrakech, a small palace in the Medina, and in Tangier, a sublime garden house.

Claudio Bravo in Tangier

The Chilean painter fell in love with Morocco. He arrived in Tangier in 1972 where he dropped his luggage, canvases and brushes in the city by the sea, that was then the haunting ground of the Beat Generation. He rubbed shoulders with the writer Paul Bowles, he was introduced to the painter Francis Bacon and most importantly he found his inspiration. He was "fascinated by the composition of things in the country," he said and, was "mesmerized by the use of color in every day life."

He was captivated by the lights, colors and the people of Tangier. He painted his subjects in a hyper-realistic way that was inspired from classicism; he was guided by his obsession to represent the world as it is.

The colors of everyday life in Morocco influenced his choice in landscapes, figure compositions and still-lives that he painted. The Moroccan traditional art objects that he collected served him as models. He planned to open a museum for his art collection at his Taroudant fortress home.

His hyper-realistic style has propelled him to be on the short list of major art collectors, his paintings were auctioned for hundreds of thousands of dollars ... He has made numerous portraits of Moroccan models in an amazing quasi-photographic style.

Father and Son

A realist colorist, Claudio Bravo moves from portrait to still life with ease. He was also known for his intriguing staged allegories. He was drawn toward the mystical, and was able to capture a series of touching paintings of men in prayer.

Works by Bravo are included in the collections of El Museo del Barrio, New York, the Baltimore Museum of Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile; Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City; Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; The Palmer Museum of Art, State College, Pennsylvania; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.