Wool Felt Artisan: Mohamed Mashrour
Felted Wool
When you envision a classic Moroccan craft, felted wool is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. In fact, you may have never given a thought to felted wool in your life! But we hope seeing the colorful results of creative artisan hands of a Marrakech artisan will inspire you to read on to learn about the process, and how Marrakech craftsmen are trying to keep this ancient craft alive today by adapting their wares to new markets and design trends.
History
Felt made from sheep’s wool is one of the world’s oldest know textiles and may even date back to prehistoric times. Throughout history and cultures, it has been used for sleeping pads, boots, bags, hats, tents (Yurts!) and even armor as the denseness of the intertwined fibers could resist an arrow.
In the recent past in Marrakech wool felters had their own designated souk (market area) and worked primarily to create horse blankets and prayer rugs. Sadly, that local market has been taken over by cheap imports. Currently, there are just about a dozen felt artisans still working the craft and catering their creations mostly to tourism shopping and craft export.
Process
Mohammed starts with wool that has been sheared, cleaned, and carded to create soft “batts” by women in the local Atlas Mountains. Often used in its natural color, the wool can also be dyed in the nearby Souk des Teinturiers (the Dyer’s souk) in the Marrakech Medina. So, the wool has already passed from hand to hand even before he starts to work with it.
The wet felting process that Mohamed uses has remained unchanged for centuries. The natural qualities of wool fibers make them easy to manipulate into a densely woven single piece of felt by simply using traditional Moroccan black olive soap (Savon Beldi), water, and continuous agitation and pressure.
Even though the process is fairly simple and Mohamed makes it look easy, it’s impossible not to appreciate the care and years of experience that go into the creation process as each slipper, hat, handbag, and felt ball comes into existence under his expert hands.
Mohamed’s Story
Mohamed Mashrour spends his days working out of a tiny atelier in the Marrakech Medina. Each day he patiently moves his hand crafted merchandise out of his small working space and sets up his colorful display of felted crafts to create space to begin working on more wet felted wool creations.
After hauling buckets of water to which he adds a fresh batch of black olive soap, he begins the process of wetting layers of wool and massaging the fibers together with increasing amounts of soapy water and more friction until they become one piece of sturdy felted wool fabric.
Like many other modern-day Moroccan artisans, wool felters have had to adapt their crafts to a changing market in order to keep working and earning a living wage. Rather than traditional felted wool prayer carpets and equine blankets, Mohamed now primarily creates felted bags and hats, cozy wool slippers, and decorative embroidered felt balls which are normally sold to Medina tourists.
The Souk des Teinturiers-the Dyer’s Souk in the Marrakech Medina. This is where much of the wool used and sold in the Marrakech Medina is dyed in both natural and bright, synthetic dyes and left to dry in the sun.
Most Popular Wool Felt Crafts & Accessories
With their previous typical crafts for Moroccan customers of prayer rugs and saddle blankets replaced by imports, felt craftsman have turned to creating items to appeal to foreign tourist and markets, such as felt bags and felt beads for jewelry.
Felted wool slippers in cozy and colorful styles. These wool slippers not only have the advantage of being warm and comfortable, they are also machine washable and can easily be stretched to fit a range of sizes/
Nothing valuable gets wasted in Morocco. It seems this country invented UPcycing! Small pieces of leftover wool are fashioned into colorful balls which are then embroidered by Moroccan women. We love them simply tossed in a pretty display basket or used in craft projects such as beaded wall garlands, pillow pom-pom trim, tassels and more.
Interested in adding wool felt into your everyday crafts? Shop below!
