The tents of the Beni Ourain tribes had a rectangular shape as well as the current Berber houses whose rooms are long and narrow, the carpets were usually used in order to cover the entire interior space habitat, they also tend to be much longer than wide. Thus, a Beni Ourain carpet is of a size over 2.20 meters wide, even if it is a real old Rug.
These Beni Ourain Rugs often have a length of 4 meters by 2 meters wide so that their new dimensions fit perfectly with those of Western contemporary spaces, currently found in all sizes. Their weight varies between 20 and 35 kg and the wool height is between 25mm and 40mm.
The carpets made by the different Beni Ourain tribes are characterized by their abstract artistic style with their purity and capacity to adapt to all places. Many European artists were inspired by the motifs in their works such as Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier (who combined Berber carpet with designer furniture) without forgetting Paul Klee and Mondrian and most modernist architects of the years 1920 and 1930. The Beni Ouarain carpets were introduced especially in the field of interior design by Henri Matisse, which was renamed the “White Giant”
Timothy Whealon writes about Beni Ouarain carpets: “I do not see them as a passing trend; but rather a decorative element that will always be present in the interior design’.
Moroccan Rugs
“This originality is exactly what explains the intense passion of designers to stage them in their achievements. They give pieces of cold atmosphere, incomparable warmth and a touch of life and ethnicity”.