Posts Tagged ‘Moroccan Pottery’

How to Buy a Tajine to Take Home From Morocco

Sunday, July 31st, 2016
Tajines, Morocco Photograph by Amanda Ponzio Mouttaki

Tajines, Morocco Photograph by Amanda Ponzio Mouttaki

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A souvenir at the top of your list when visiting Morocco is most likely an is an authentic Moroccan tajine. That is until you discover how many different options exist for purchase. It can quickly become overwhelming and frustrating. We recommend that you do a little bit of research ahead of time so the experience will be much smoother.

When you first begin to look have an idea in mind of the size tajine you would like. Typically, they are categorized by the number of people they will serve. A small tajine in Morocco is used to serve 1-2 people, a medium for 3-4 and a large for 6+ people.

Cooking Tajines
There are two types of cooking tajines; glazed and unglazed. You will be able to tell a tajine is for cooking in because it will not be painted. It may have decorative etching into the clay but that is the only decoration. A glazed tajine has a shiny appearance and unglazed looks like natural clay material. Different cooks like different types of finishes. Either type may or may not have a small hole at the top of the cone. You shouldn’t worry if you see it – or if you don’t, it’s just a different style.

A glazed tajine is good for the cook who might worry about burning food inside. They clean easier and are more forgiving. Unglazed tajines take a little longer to “break in” and food burns quicker if it gets too hot. Many professional cooks swear by unglazed clay. They also develop a flavor with time.

Decorative Tajines
The other type of tajine you will see in the Moroccan souks are highly decorated with paint. These tajines are not made to or meant to be cooked in. Food is cooked separately and then transferred to the decorative tajine. You should always ask when you’re looking at a tajine if it can or cannot be cooked in just to make sure.

Caring for a Tajine
Once you’ve chosen your tajine and taken it home it’s time to get it ready. Unglazed tajines need the most preparation. They should be first rubbed with olive oil and then submerged in water for at least 24 hours. Let the tajine dry completely (another 24 hours) before using. Gazed tajines can also be pre-soaked but it’s not always necessary – ask the vendor when purchasing what they would recommend as it can vary.

To cook with a tajine always use low heat on a stovetop. You can cook on an electric or gas stove top or oven. If you’re using an electric oven you will need to put a diffuser between the tajine and the coils. They can be purchased online and from many shops in Morocco inexpensively. Be sure to check the water levels in your tajine so that it doesn’t get too low. A dry tajine will crack if there isn’t liquid and it gets too hot.

You should never wash your tajine (especially unglazed) with soap. The clay of the tajine is very porous and the soap will soak into the clay and can leave a funny taste. Instead soak in hot water, and use a coarse scrub brush or steel wool to remove any food stuck to the surface.

There is a learning curve to using a tajine so don’t get discouraged if the first few times it doesn’t work out, but once you’ve mastered it you’ll be ready to make another trip to Morocco for more tajines to stock your kitchen!

For more information about How to Make a Tajine or A Taste of Morocco Food Tour

For more information about how to buy a tajine on a Morocco Private Tour

Amanda Mouttaki is a food and travel writer and blogger, with an expertise on Moroccan culinary traditions and food culture. Her passion is uncovering the stories behind traditional cultures and food around the world. She lives in Marrakech, Morocco with her family.

Morocco’s Imperial Cities, Seaside Resorts,Sahara Desert,Berber villages, A Taste of Morocco, Magical Kasbahs, Ruins & Waterfalls, Absolute Morocco, The Best of Marrakech, Fes, and Ouarzazate

Discover The Best of Morocco - Travel Exploration
Travel Exploration specializes in Morocco Travel. We provide Tours and travel opportunities to Morocco for the independent traveler and tailor-made tours for families and groups with a distinctly unique flavor. From Morocco’s Seven Imperial Cities, to the Magical Sahara Travel Exploration offers a captivating experience that will inspire you. At Travel Exploration we guarantee that you will discover the best of Morocco! Call Travel Exploration at 1 (800) 787-8806 or + 1 (212) 618882681 and let’s book a tour to Morocco for you today.

The Moroccan Art Scene, Post Independence Moroccan Artists

Friday, January 15th, 2016
Hassan Hajjaj, Marrakech Artist

Hassan Hajjaj, Marrakech Artist

 

 

 

 

 

The Moroccan  Contemporary Art Scene, post-independence, is much sought after and has gained popularity over the recent years given its varied mix of forward thinking and experimental painters, sculptors, fashion designers, and craftsmen. Morocco’s contemporary art scene had a boost with the opening of some significant public-funded and private galleries as well as some key exhibitions showcasing Moroccan modern art abroad. Although foreign and diaspora collectors have always been important, Nadia Echiguer, Director of UK-based art dealers, Moroccan Fine Art, explains the role of a developing economy in the promotion and sale of contemporary artwork in Morocco itself. “Before, only private and public institutions were buying artworks. The trend has changed as private Moroccan collectors are showing a keen interest in art,” thanks to a booming economy that has seen an increase in the size and the wealth of the Moroccan middle class.

Mohammed Melehi, Asiliah

Mohammed Melehi, Asiliah

 

 

 

 

 

Reflecting the increasing domestic interest in contemporary art, two large projects opened in Rabat and Marrakech. The MMVI Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art opened in Rabat, in October 2014 with an exhibition of over 400 works by more than 150 Moroccan artists, entitled “1914-2014: One hundred years of creation.” Over in Marrakech, seen by many as a more creative centre compared to Rabat, the Marrakech Museum for Photography and Visual Arts (MMP+) opened in September 2013 in temporary accommodation at the Badii Palace. A purpose-built venue designed by British architect Sir David Chipperfield is due to open in 2016, the same year as the 6th Marrakech Biennale (24 February – 8 May 2016).

Fatima Ettalbi, Essaouira Artists

Fatima Ettalbi, Essaouira Artists

 

 

 

 

 

Following Moroccan independence in 1956, many artists and intellectuals sought to claim a modern Moroccan cultural identity to banish the euro-centrism of the French colonial power or an orientalist over-emphasis on the naive or folkloric aspects of Moroccan art. At the same time, many artists could not and would not deny the influence of these more traditional arts and crafts on their work. As the swinging 60s drew on into the 1970s, despite the former colonial experience, there was much intellectual and artistic interchange between Morocco and Europe, in particular France. In addition, Moroccan artists exchanged ideas and philosophies with visiting Beat Poets (for example, in Tangiers) and international musicians and artists who passed through the country (including the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and others). Slowly, however, Moroccan artists developed an “exploratory intuition” according to Moroccan philosopher El Jabri and a “modernity” in the Moroccan artistic experience was born.

Myriam Mourabit, Casablanca Artist

Myriam Mourabit, Casablanca Artist

 

 

 

 

During the 1980s, these issues of collective identity became less evident as Moroccan artists gained the confidence to forge their own styles and open their horizons beyond questions of a Moroccan or Arab style. At the same time, they left behind occidental models and themes and began to explore their creativity as individuals. This desire to carve one’s own niche as an artist, one who happens to be Moroccan, characterized strongly the closing decades of the 20th century.

Today, at the start of the 21st century, many young Moroccan artists are experimenting with new twists on old techniques and traditions against the backdrop of greater use of modern communications technology. Key themes in this era reflect the realities of modern life for young Moroccans: immigration, globalization, urbanization and the cultural references of the past.

The Moroccan art scene has a number of key creative centers. Many artists have emerged from the large conurbations of Casablanca or Marrakech or the traditional heartland of Moroccan crafts, Fes. However, Tetouan – with its Institute of Fine Arts – and Essaouira – with its nexus of auto-didactic artists are two particular poles.

Written by Lynn Sheppard 

Lynn Sheppard has lived in Essaouira, on Morocco’s Atlantic Coast for more than 2 years, supporting local non-profits, writing and becoming an expert on all things Swiri (ie. Essaouiran). She blogs at Maroc-phile.com and for other travel industry clients.

For more information about the Moroccan Art Scene or a Morocco Art Private Tour

Morocco’s Imperial Cities, Seaside Resorts,Sahara Desert,Berber villages, A Taste of Morocco, Magical Kasbahs, Ruins & Waterfalls, Absolute Morocco, The Best of Marrakech, Fes, and Ouarzazate

Discover The Best of Morocco - Travel Exploration
Travel Exploration specializes in Morocco Travel.  We provide Tours and travel opportunities to Morocco for the independent traveler and tailor-made tours for families and groups with a distinctly unique flavor. From Morocco’s Seven Imperial Cities, to the Magical Sahara Travel Exploration offers a captivating experience that will inspire you. At Travel Exploration we guarantee that you will discover the best of Morocco! Call Travel Exploration at 1 (800) 787-8806 or + 1 (212) 618882681 and let’s book a tour to Morocco for you today.

The Pottery and Ceramics of Morocco

Monday, July 8th, 2013

Antique Moroccan Pottery

Morocco’s pottery and ceramics are one of the real treasures of the souks with diverse traditional and modern colors and designs influenced by Berber and Islamic art and before them, absorbing Phoenician, Roman and Byzantine designs.  Ceramics and pottery pieces include vases, plates, pots, dishes, bowls, and the funnel shaped tangines used for slow cooking stews. Be sure to distinguish pottery used for cooking from ceramics used for decoration, because the glazes used to fix colors include lead and cadmium. It is not unusual for there to be several glazing and several firings on a particular Moroccan piece. The final product is vividly decorated and water-resistant due to the glaze.

Artisans carry on centuries-old traditions in their designs are passed on through families. The three main pottery centers are Safi, Fes and Meknes. Safi is by the far the largest production center where apprentice workers kneed the clay and skilled artisans create the shapes out of the sun baked clay on the potter’s wheel. Designs are etched on the wet clay and dried in the sun. They are then fired in kilns to evaporate the moisture from the clay, cooled and then decorated with colored glazes which make them water resistant. Pottery from Safi is known for its metal inlays and is often made of red clay and glazed in green, turquoise and black.

Potters throughout Morocco also use modern multicolored  designs as well as traditional patterns. If you visit Safi you will find the Quartier des Potiers or Potters’ Quarter near the Portuguese fortifications known as the Kechla and the National Ceramic Museum, which is in the Kechla. It displays the typical pottery styles throughout the country, and, from the walls of the fort, you can see the potters’ hill, with potters at work at their kilns. Master potter Moulay Ahmed Serghini also has a studio in Safi, where visitors, including children, can take lessons in ceramics workshops. Serghini’s work, which has been displayed at the British Museum, is also for sale throughout the city.

Fes Moroccan Traditional Blue and White Pottery

The ancient city of Fes offers uniquely designed and colored Moroccan ceramics with an Islamic influence in an intricate patterns, colors, design and production. For over six centuries Fes created the finest Moroccan pottery. Its beauty comes from the complex knowledge of geometry passed on from father to son. The Fes Potters’ quarter  is east of  Bab Ftouh on the road to Taza. At the Poterie Fakh-Khari there are two pottery shops and you can watch the production process from kneeding the clay, spinning on the potter’s wheel, firing in the kiln, glazing and finally the finished product. Due to the variation in the glazing process no two pieces are exactly alike. Fes is renowned for the choice of cobalt oxide that gives the pottery its distinctive shade of blue. Some Fes and Meknes potters moved to Safi in the 18th century to take advantage of its rich clay deposits.

The floral and geometric Moroccan designs are available in cobalt blue and multi colored. This highly decorative ceramic style was greatly influenced by the Moorish Andalusian period when the moors and the jews  fled the Reconquista in 1492 and settled in Fes. Antique  blue and white fassi pottery pieces appear in museums such as the Marrakech Museum or the National Ceramic Museum in Safi.

Many tribes fashion their own styles of decoration for their pottery with designs created over  two hundred years ago.

For More Information on Moroccan Pottery and Zellij Tile Design Tour 

Morocco’s Imperial CitiesSeaside Resorts,Sahara Desert,Berber villagesA Taste of MoroccoMagical Kasbahs, Ruins & WaterfallsAbsolute Morocco, The Best of MarrakechFes, and Ouarzazate

Discover The Best of Morocco - Travel Exploration
Travel Exploration specializes in Morocco Travel.We provide Tours and travel opportunities to Morocco for the independent traveler and tailor-made tours for families and groups with a distinctly unique flavor. From Morocco’s Seven Imperial Cities, to the Magical Sahara Travel Exploration offers a captivating experience that will inspire you. At Travel Exploration we guarantee that you will discover the best of Morocco! Call Travel Exploration at 1 (800) 787-8806 or + 1 (212) 618882681 and let’s book a tour to Morocco for you today.

Safi Pottery – Travel to the Moroccan town of Safi

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

man-painting-pottery

 Walking through the chaotic souks of Marrakesh you will find stall upon stall of beautiful Moroccan ceramics of all shapes and sizes. From large round plates with bright orange flowers to traditional tagines of cobalt blue, the intricate designs and astonishing colors make it hard to believe that most of the pieces were made by hand in a town called Safi.

Safi

Safi is the pottery capital of Morocco. This quiet coastal town has a diversified industry known for its sardines and seafood as well as its ceramics. While it is an industrial town don’t let that discourage you from visiting, it still boasts beautiful architecture, most of which are remnants of the Portuguese occupation including the old medina and Portuguese Citadel – or Kechla. There is also the potter’s quarter which is home to all of the potters’ workshop and is a popular destination for tourists.

potterys-quarters

The Potter’s Quarter

Despite Safi being an industrial town life goes on as it has for centuries for the potters in the old potter’s quarter. Safi boasts the oldest pottery kilns in Morocco and the potters there are famous for their plates and tagines with turquoise, white and cream-colored backgrounds and also for the famous green tiles that can be seen on roofs in all the major cities. All of their pieces are still made by hand and are a major source of income for the town of Safi. Row upon row of potters’ workshops can be found displaying their breathtaking works of art and tourists are welcome to watch the potters at work as they create their masterpieces.

Moroccan Pottery

Pottery and ceramics have always been produced and used in Morocco. In early Morocco unglazed earthen pots were used to store food and water and were key to survival. Glazed and painted ceramics however, were always made to be decorative and only sometimes useful. As imports of fine china became more common Moroccan pottery became more decorative which allowed for potters to create more elaborate designs on their pieces.

Pottery-making is truly an art form and Safi pottery is appreciated for its intricate paintings and beautiful colors and can be found in homes world-wide.


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Travel Exploration specializes in Morocco Travel. We provide Tours and travel opportunities to Morocco for the independent traveler and tailor-made tours for families and groups with a distinctly unique flavor. From Morocco’s Seven Imperial Cities, to the Magical Sahara Travel Exploration offers a captivating experience that will inspire you. At Travel Exploration we guarantee that you will discover the best of Morocco! Google on call Travel Exploration at (917)703-2078 and let’s book a tour to Morocco for you today.