Its frustrating to see Moroccan-design products, such as Safi-style dinnerware sold by Pottery Barn a few years back, that are manufactured in China. It signals to me that the Moroccan economy isn’t benefiting from centuries of design traditions. But, issues of capacity and quality control need to be addressed before Moroccan artisans can reach out directly to consumers, let alone big retailers.

I hope projects, such as the Business Growth Initiative can help artisans – in Morocco and around the world – make a living from their work and benefit from the global economy.

I haven’t read the full report yet, but wanted to share the publication Aid to Artisans: Building Profitable Craft Businesses. Notes From the Field because it shows some awareness of the challenges facing traditional artisans. This April 2009 publication was prepared by the Business Growth Initiative Project and financed by the Office of Economic Growth of EGAT/USAID. This report is also available on the Business Growth Initiative project website at www.BusinessGrowthInitiative.org.

Up river some boys rinsed gold tea pots with an acid finish. Down river, a group of men pound animal skins in the water. The river that runs through Fes serves many purposes. None smell or look particularly beautiful.

Maybe that will change soon.

Reading about top sustainable construction projects in From The Nation Business, I was happy to see mention of the river in the Fes medina, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

“A youthful and international project team led by architect Aziza Chaouni ( Morocco ) and urban planner Takako Tajima ( USA) are remediating the heavily-polluted river Fez to revitalize the ancient heart of the city. The approach includes a series of interventions to renovate traditional tanneries, create public spaces and pedestrian zones, and restore wetlands as well as biodiversity.

The jury applauded the scheme for creating a chain of recovery projects to enable future sub-projects to be added – and for addressing the economic and social life of the city together with the ecology of the river. “This is a multi-sited, multi-functional project organized around the recovery of the river. Core components rehabilitate the architecture of this historic Medina , creating a functional and viable urban precinct,” stated the jury report.

The project authors formed NGO Sauvons Oued Fez (Save the Fez River ) after winning the regional Holcim Awards Gold 2008 Africa Middle East. The NGO is a network to advance the sub-projects of the remediation and encourage community involvement. ”

Gene Turangan was kind enough to send me some photos of his workshop in Indonesia. He makes Moroccan-style mosaic tables and vanities using his own technique.

His team uses monochromatic, unglazed floor tiles which cut into furmah, the traditional shapes. He uses fiber cement for outdoor tables or medium density fiber for indoor tables as the base.

This technique results in quicker production and a smoother, lighter table top as no cement or iron are required.

The fact his work doesn’t require iron edging means he can use other materials, such as the following designs which are trimmed with wood.

His inspiration? One book: “Arabesques” by Jean-Mark Castera; isbn 2-86770-124-4. Gene notes while Castera writes “Moroccan zillij craftsman have nothing to fear about sharing their technique.The materials,tools and tiles made elsewhere are impossible to cut.” He “was lucky to have created zillij mosaics 3 years before reading this book. My techniques are simple and don’t require any particular expertise. Geometric patterns are mathematics, either in Africa or anyplace in the world. The result should be the same.”

Unfortunately, his products are not yet available for sale online. Perhaps something we can look forward to in the future? His workshop is in Indonesia and he sells locally or through trade shows. For now, perhaps his work will inspire you to start a project all your own.

You can contact Gene via email at turangan at gmail.com.

According to an article by Sarah Touahri at Maghrebia.com, earlier this month the Moroccan Secretary of State for Traditional Crafts Anis Birou revealed government plans to open the country’s first higher institute for training in traditional crafts by 2010. Training in handicrafts has traditionally been done through apprenticeship. A formal training institute will help address problems in production and help the handicraft sector meet international demand for Moroccan goods – a need not being met by current supply. The full story is online at full article at maghrebia.com.

My only question is: can they teach me to make stencils like the ones hanging in this wood working shop in Fes?

I opened the mailbox and saw a little square package. Could it be? The return label read “Argan Oils…Chicago, IL.” Yes! My package of argan oils had arrived!

I was approached by Argan Oils to list their product on my website and wanted to test the quality first. If you purchase their product through my site, I get a commission on the sale.

Argan oil is made from the kernels of the argan tree, which only grows in southern Morocco. Extracting the oil is a labor-intensive process primarily done by Berber women in the Atlas region. For centuries the oil has been valued for its culinary, cosmetic, and medicinal properties. Only recently has it gained popularity in Europe and the United States as an eco-friendly, anti-aging ingredient.

Argan Oils

Trying to understand the origins of Moroccan design makes it is easy to neglect the new developments taking shape around the country. Take for example Hay Riad, the suburb of Rabat. The first time I visited Hay Riad in 1996 it was considered a far-out suburb, a cumbersome bus ride away from the city center. Now traffic flows into Hay Riad. It is complete with shops, businesses, gardens, and religious centers.

On the drive into Hay Riad, governement buildings, such as the Royal Institue for Amazigh Culture, bring life to the architectural landscape. The building looks like a wedge or —better yet– a ramp that is allows the land to take flight and the air to take ground.

New plazas are in place where inhabitants of nearby apartments come at night. Children ride bikes, play with sculptures, or skateboard while adults gossip or grab a coffee at the new Paul’s.

I say these developments are new, but to many they are not. I had a four-year gap between when I visited Rabat and when I saw the new development, most of which wasn’t in place in 2001. To me it is a stunning example of urban planning and design. In the States I’ve been waiting two years for a new shopping center to go up near my house, I live inside the Beltway, which is to say close to Washington, DC’s city center. I make the comparision because, despite the Moroccan reputation for having a work ethic that is rather, …ughum…, let’s say “relaxed,” when the Moroccan government is behind an initative, it puts action into place. Let’s hope similar results can be achieved with the rest of the King’s Vision 2010 plans.

My favorite thing to do in Rabat is to take pack my daughter and her trike in the car and head towards the medina. In May and June the weather is nice, perhaps a bit too hot at midday, but the crowds are thin. As my girl peddles her trike I take in the visual delight of artisan shops. If we visit during lunch when some of the shops are closed I can admire the painted doors. Sometimes we cross the street to the kasbah Oudaya for more fun exploring the gardens and a cup of tea for mom and cookies for the girl.

On one such trip, I stopped by the Maison du Artisan. Just outside the medina across from the Bou Regreg waterfront, I had been admiring this building from the outside and wondering what could be held inside. An artisan co-op? Business assistance? We wandered into a vacant courtyard with a central fountain.

We wandered up the stairs, Mom carried the trike, and a femme de menage immediately smiled a she noticed my girl, gently pinched her little cheek, and then kissed her own finger tips. This endearing gesture is common occurrence when traveling in Morocco with small children.

I explained using my poor French that I was researching export opportunities. I was shown into a woman’s office who explained to me in perfect English (lucky for us both) that she is working to help standardize the artisan sector and that one of her colleagues works on export opportunities. She gave me a lovely hardcover English-language book promoting Moroccan handicrafts, specifically carpets, weaving, pottery, leather, metal, wood, candles, jewelry, furniture, clothing, architecture, and organic products.

Her colleague took me into another office where I explained I was conducting research on export opportunities. But without a specific product and investment amount in mind, I could gather little information on pricing or suppliers. The first woman had explained that the website has a catalog of artisan contacts, but the website was broken when I visited. It ends up that the web address www.maisonartisana.org.ma which is printed on the back of the book is out-dated. The new address is www.lartisanatdumaroc.ma.

There was an exchange of business cards, but no further contact. I got the sense that most of the assistance is being supplied to artisan in-country as part of the Vision 2015 objectives, which include standardizing the artisan sector and getting more artisans to participate at trade shows and the like. I imagine there will be much improvement in the artisan sector within the next seven years.

If I do get around to importing Moroccan artisan products into the United States, I imagine I will do so by the container full instead of by working with individual suppliers. That said, if you are a Moroccan artisan seeking export opportunities to US markets, please contact me at sarah at moroccandesign.com.

After hanging out at hotels and hanging out of windows trying to pick up a wifi signal, I went to the Wana store in Hassan (Rabat) accross from Yum Yum and bought a wireless modem. It cost 700 dirhams (about $100 USD – ouch, the dollar is low) for the modem and first month of unlimited connectivity. You can buy additional months and pay-as-you-go (Meditel offers a similar service, but at the time they require a two-year plan). Based on the access map I saw at Wana, it looks like it should work along the costal areas of Morocco. You can ask them about coverage, but I don’t expect it would work for a trek through the desert. I’m using it now in Rabat and plan on using it when I get to Restinga, between Tangier and Tetuan.

Since I work as a freelance web designer, this is a very, very good thing for me. A bit pricey, but worth it if you need to work while traveling. Wish I knew about it before I started my travels, so I wanted you to know.

I love to spend time at my friends house in the neighborhood of Rabat aptly named L’Ocean, just down the street for the new Bou Regreg waterfront and the Oudaya kasbah. They have a beautifully decorated fifth-floor apartment with a large terrace and amazing ocean view. Its the perfect spot for watching sunset and relaxing with friends. I can’t say enough about how nice it is to have your own place in Morocco…a place on the ocean. But, in L’Ocean, if you turn away from the ocean and look south down the coast you will see a neglected neighborhood that tells the story of suppressed waterfront development in Rabat.

Hassan II had a policy, which he stated as “Turn your backs to the ocean.” I haven’t read this quote, but I’ve had several Moroccan friends repeat it to me. The best explanation I’ve heard for this policy is that Hassan II wanted his capital to be focused on the administrative work associated with ruling the kingdom. He did not want a city with cafes and liberal tourists, like Casablanca. He wanted a city of people dedicated to securing his rule. Perhaps he feared oceanfront development would encourage foreign investment which would in turn give foreigners an interest in the politics of Morocco. During the years of lead, it was better that Moroccans keep their eyes on Hassan II.

Whatever the logic behind the policies of Hassan II, it is clear that development in Morocco wasn’t inhibited by social or cultural concerns, which is what I feared when I wrote about new development plans for Oued Laou. It isn’t that the people of Morocco haven’t wanted foreign investment in their country, but foreign investment and tourism development was held back by the political policies and concerns of the previous king.

Under the rule of King Mohammad VI, the country is beginning to see the fruits of ambitious development projects, cultural celebrations, and development projects such as the Prince Moulay Abdellah sports complex and the Villa des Arts.

It is wonderful to see Morocco moving closer towards its full economic potential. I hope the new real estate development projects bring prosperity to Moroccans. The next challenges for Morocco are energy capacity, education, and cultural differences in expectations of services. I will write more about those concerns later. Overall, the future looks bright.

In the medina you can occasionally find haute couture labels mixed-in with traditional handicraft products. But there is something wrong with the design: the leather smells, the lining is missing, the tailoring is skewed. These are the products that didn’t make it past quality control. Would-be exporters and designers who want to take advantage of Morocco’s surplus of world-famous artisan talent will have to face the issue of quality control again, again, and again.

At the second annual Morocco Business Forum in May, the US Ambassador talked about business ventures that have successfully worked between the two countries. He used Mustapha’s Fine Moroccan Foods as an example. That company started by importing bulk products to Washington state. When they ran into quality control problems, they established operations in Morocco and monitored quality control by lowering production quantity. They revamped branding and packaging and sold smaller shipments to upscale clients. The strategy seems to be working. I’ve seen Mustapha’s products treated to prominent display space in Crate and Barrel and the gourmet grocery store Balducci’s.

Small-scale production not only allows you to monitor quality, but it protects Morocco as a brand. Zid Zid Kids, a Marrakesh-based business that designs children’s toys and furnishings, benefits from the “Made in Morocco” label. Customers love that the little gold owl poof they bought for their child was in fact made in Morocco and not in China.

A few years ago I may have thought that a quality poof could only be Moroccan made. That view changed when I saw a Pottery Barn window filled with a display of dishes done in a traditional Safi pottery design. I turned the plate over to find the “Made in China” label. Where Morocco may have the design, China has the production. And, for retailers requiring mass-produced products, there are alternative ways to profit from the Morocco brand.

Morocco, despite its excellent location, isn’t easy to penetrate. Managing relationships in Morocco requires plenty of face-to-face interaction. Trustworthy partnerships are difficult to establish and require steady maintenance. In her book “Sacred Performances” M.E. Combs-Shilling writes about the foundations of social structure and authority in Morocco. “If every man simply knows his name, an elaborate organizational structure can be called into play that systematically specifies rights, duties, and loyalty among vast numbers of people…numbering in the thousands or tens of thousands.” This organizational structure includes “situational loyalty…that depends on the social context and alters according to the kinship relationship of those involved.” Perhaps this is why most successfully business ventures between Morocco and the United States involve Moroccan-American couples, as is the case with Zid Zid Kids.

From the perspective of Moroccan history, merchants come and go; Phonecians, Carthigians, Romans, and Nazarenes. These outsiders operated within Morocco according to their own rule and social customs until they reached the limits of profitability. For a Moroccan merchant, there is no social context for these business relationships other than that of profitability. Sell the most product at the highest price until the relationship meets its inevitable expiration.

On a tour of the Fes medina, out guide took us to a textile shop where weavers spun vegetable silk threads into colorful fabrics. The building was run down. Rain dripped into the open-air courtyard and the weavers and fabrics were stowed safely along the perimeter, shielded by the floor of the rooms on the second floor. I thought about this shop and asked to return to it the next day. Nothing in Morocco is a straight line, so this trip to the textile shop turned into another tour of the medina. I was taken to a shop that makes embroidered table linens. The designs are reversible and the products can be soaked in bleach without losing color. Under the Free Trade Agreement between Morocco and the United States, textile imports will be completely duty-free by 2015. I asked the shop owner why he didn’t export “This is cheap stuff.” As we left, my guide explained “For it to be worthwhile for him to export, he would need to sell a more expensive product. Besides, do you really think this product would sell?” I pictured the table clothes on display in Bed, Bath, and Beyond next to their Chinese and Indian peers. Maybe not.

When we finally made our way back to the textile shop, the place was swarming with German, Dutch, and Spanish tour groups. It looked as if 30% of the inventory had been sold in one day. Considering the lack of administrative work associated operating a business under these conditions, I understand why Moroccan artisans are looking to be exporters. Customers come to them. Why should an artisan complicate life with production efficiency, packaging, and order fulfillment?

Should the government succeed in standardizing the artisan industry, perhaps the artisans will find themselves motivated to take advantage of modern global trade. I say modern global trade because Morocco has always done business with other cultures and its artisans are well supported through tourism. However, type of trading international buyers want to do with Morocco is a nameless, faceless business transaction. There is simply no context for it.