Our Story

Baraka means blessing. It is what the weavers of Kairouan say when a carpet comes off the loom: a piece made with patience carries baraka into the home it enters.

Kairouan, the carpet city

Carpet weaving in Kairouan goes back to the 19th century, when the daughter of the city's governor wove the first "zarbia" for the Great Mosque. Today thousands of women still knot wool on vertical looms in the medina and the surrounding villages. Baraka was founded in 1962 by a family of weavers from the Souk des Tapis, and we still work from the same workshop.

How we work

• Direct from the atelier. We buy every rug directly from the family or cooperative that made it. No middlemen, no auctions.
• Natural materials. Wool from the Tunisian steppe, spun by hand, coloured with madder root, pomegranate skin, indigo and saffron.
• Fair pay. Weavers are paid by the piece at a rate they set, and every product page names the atelier that made it.

The techniques

Kilim is a flat weave with no pile, light and reversible. Margoum is uniquely Tunisian: a kilim base with knotted motifs embroidered in relief. Kairouan knotted carpets use the Ghiordes knot, up to 160,000 knots per square metre. Berber wool rugs are deep-pile, undyed and wonderfully warm.

Come and visit us at the Souk des Tapis in the medina of Kairouan. Tea is always ready.