THE FIBER
The Siroua region, a remote and rugged region on the eastern flanks of Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, is home to a unique breed of sheep and the source of our premium wool.
Prized throughout Morocco for its soft, silky fibers, the Siroua sheep grows a fine and exceptionally lustrous wool.
Reared in the practice of transhumance, nomads shepherd these flocks along ancient routes, from the lower plains close to the Sahara in the winter to the upper verdant plateaus of Siroua during the hot summer months.
Renowned for its adaptability and hardiness, the breed plays a vital role in the local economy and cultural heritage of the region.
However, due to the prevalence in Morocco of industrial, cheap wools this breed is now in danger of extinction, making its conservation and preservation of great importance.
Hand-sheared by shepherds in late spring and sourced directly by us.
THE YARN
Applying age-old techniques, the raw fleece is hand washed by village women in high mountain streams.
Enabling the wool’s natural capacity to clean itself, the fleece is batted to excrete the rich, soapy lanolin within its fibers and thus avoid entirely the use of chemical detergents. The end result is a luxuriously soft yarn with an unmistakable and magnificent lustre.
Air-dried along river banks, the wool is then hand-carded and hand-spun on traditional drop spindles in the women’s own homes.
THE DYE
Talasin’s colours emerge from its own dyeing studio where the Siroua wool is then tinted with henna. A natural dye derived from the Lawsonia Inermis plant, its use goes back over 5000 years with a symbolic place in the cultural and religious history of Morocco.
The application of henna in Moroccan textiles, now almost completely lost to the seduction of chemical dyes, reflects the country’s deep-rooted connection to nature and its traditional craftsmanship. It embodies the essence of Moroccan culture, where art and tradition intertwine.
Talasin’s core collection of rugs uses henna as an expression of the color of the earth and a celebration of Moroccan culture.
THE WEAVE
All of Talasin´s pieces are hand woven in its own ateliers using the recovered practice of the Berber knot. A method so entirely unique to Morocco’s Atlas Mountains and its people as to have no presence elsewhere on earth.
Almost entirely replaced by its Turkish and colonial counterparts imported to Morocco, the Berber knot with its differing form adds a deeply unique texture and denomination of origin to the craft.
Its complex ‘8’ figure shape, also produces a substantially plusher and longer lasting rug.
