Authentic Algerian Carpet Designs and Motifs

“The design and motifs in this book are authentic creations of the Berber inhabitants of the Djebel Amour mountain range in northern Algeria. In the 1920s, when these traditions were in danger of dying out, and the local weavers were increasingly using European patterns and dyes, French missionaries and colonial officials organized workshops in which only the old styles and colors were allowed. There the local women could supplement the family income without leaving their homes for factory towns; there they could take pride in an unstandardized craft that gave them a sense of their own past. In 1932, the missionary Father Giacobetti published the portfolio of Djebel Amour designs on which the present volume is based. …: