Moroccan and Beni Ourain Style Rugs
Collection
Moroccan rugs and Beni Ourain style rugs to the trade
Moroccan rugs to the trade: 57 styles in the Beni Ourain and Berber tradition, 51 of them from Harcourt Collection (51), Couristan (2), BIC Carpets (1) and Prestige Mills (1). 50 are hand-knotted and 53 are wool, which is the construction and fiber of the originals; the five machine woven and two Wilton pieces give the pattern in polypropylene for a stair or an outdoor room. 57 are made to order.
A Beni Ourain rug is an ivory, undyed wool pile with a loose black or brown lattice of diamonds, shaggy on the back and about three quarters of an inch deep on the face; a Berber rug is the broader Moroccan family, including the Azilal with color and the Boucherouite rag weaves. The Harcourt Collection pieces, Renwick, Seraphine, Amabel, Darielle and Coralie, are made to order in wool in 6x9 through 12x15, so the designer gets the hand and the pattern without the shedding, the odd sizes and the one-of-a-kind sourcing of a vintage piece. Couristan's Tulum and Moroccan carry the lattice in a flatter machine woven pile.
The Moroccan style rug lands in a bedroom, a family room or under a mid century seating group where a thick, soft wool is the point. Keep the pattern loose and the scale large, the diamond can be 24 to 36 inches and the rest of the room quiet; it does not take a second pattern. Pad it with felt and rubber so the open weave does not creep. Harcourt Collection sizes run to 12x15 standard and beyond that as a custom size; a lattice in the client's color is a strike-off away through custom rugs. See hand-knotted rugs, high pile rugs and wool.
