Artisans
Designed by Loom & Field in Paris, our collection is handcrafted in partnership with a cooperative of weavers in Morocco and Mexico. We are committed to working closely with artisans to create a modern collection that preserves and celebrates traditional techniques used for centuries. Loom & Field also curates a selection of vintage pieces, sourced during our travels in Morocco, Turkey, and beyond.
Morocco
Passed down from generation to generation, rug weaving is a time-honored tradition in Morocco. Through abstract and geometric motifs, the loom is where the weaver feels truly free to express her personal desires, values, and beliefs. Loom & Field is proud to work with a dedicated group of women weavers in the Atlas Mountains. Together in their workshop, the weavers prepare the wool for the loom. Natural wool from Moroccan sheep is cleaned, carded, and finally spun by hand using a large wooden spindle. The weavers then dye the wool by hand using a majority of natural plant dyes; each recipe is unique, making every batch slightly different from the next.
After the dyeing process is finished, rugs are woven on a traditional, wooden loom, in the weaver's home. The weaver imparts her own personal weaving style and slight imperfections to each rug, making every piece truly unique. From start to finish, the weaving process for a Loom & Field rug takes around seven weeks to complete.
Mexico
Nestled in the Sierra Juárez foothills, Téotitlan del Valle is home to hundreds of skilled Zapotec weavers still using traditional techniques. Loom & Field collaborates with a master weaver and his family: his wife, their seven children, and seventeen grandchildren. The family works together to produce rugs, but each member has their own particular style of weaving. With a mix of natural and synthetic dyes coming from plants, insects, and minerals, the matriarch of the family and expert at concocting colors dyes every batch of wool herself.
In the Zapotec tradition, rugs are woven on upright foot looms. The design is drawn to scale on a large paper, and then traced onto the warp so the weaver can follow the pattern as he or she weaves. Wooden bobbins, each wrapped with yarn in different colors, are constantly passed back and forth across the loom. Though the skilled fingers of a Zapotec weaver move at a dizzying speed, trained from decades of experience and muscle memory, completing one rug is a lengthy process taking up to 8 weeks to complete.
