What do we do?
The foundation of Dar al tiraz workshop was motivated by our wish to revive the handweaving, on drawlooms, of silk lampases, which used to be one of the choicest arts and crafts of the city of Fez.
Fez lampases are counted among the most beautiful figured fabrics ever woven in the islamic world, a world which is well-known for the high quality of its textiles. But their manual production, time-consuming and costly, was abandonned at the beginning of the 20th Century with the arrival of factory-made cloths. Fez women of noble birth then turned away from lampas belts which had belonged until then to their dress. The workshops closed down one by one, taking away their precious savoir-faire.
When we started our quest to revive the art of Fez lampases, everything was to be done: designing and building the hand drawlooms, recreating the lampas drawing cards and monture, finding the techniques to optimise the quality of weaving.
Today, to prevent this outstanding savoir-faire from vanishing once again, we wish to share our experience and knowledge with weavers, be they professional or amateurs, as well as with onlookers and travellers who want to get familisarised with the fantastic crafts heritage of the city of Fez.
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