Anzal's Colorful Kharita

This Women-Only Association is located in the Village of Anzal, about 30 kilometers north of the popular weaving town, Tazenakht. The Anzal collective was founded in 2007 and is kept alive by women passing the craft down through the generations. Saida, the President of the Association, is our liaison for all our custom orders.

We met the women of Anzal in 2019 on a special day for the Association. After sharing a small space with a men’s Association, the women were finally moving into a bigger space, just for them. The night before our visit, the women had blessed and celebrated the new space with a prayer and a meal of homemade couscous. We were the final visitors to purchase in the old space. The women of the Association told us that our visit answered their prayers for a successful start to their new journey.

This rug style has a few different names; Golden Fingers, Kharita ("map" in Arabic) or Tazenakht. This complex weaving technique is usually made by the senior members of the Village. This technique consists of a maze of geometric shapes that has the same design on both sides which allows this rug to be reversible. This Flatweave is incredibly strong and will withstand the test of time.