由北非遊牧民族親手編織的地毯，是當地婦女代代相傳的工藝，結合阿拉伯民族風情與柏柏傳統圖騰的設計，將自己的故事織進毛毯中，這些簡約風格的毛毯，以掛在牆上或鋪在地上的形式布置家中角落，更從北非席捲歐美，在時尚居家設計蔚為風潮。

傳奇作家三毛曾在＜第一張床罩＞寫到：「沙漠風沙大，那個床，沒有罩子，晚上睡前總得把床單用手刷了又刷，才沒有睡在沙地上的感覺。」但去回教人的店都沒有看到喜歡的，最後她在朋友家看到一幅掛氈，終於帶回家作為床罩，這幅掛氈正是北非婦女手織的地毯。

和波斯或土耳其地毯相比，北非地毯的風格以幾何圖案、鮮豔的色彩和富有文化意義的符號為特色，展現遊牧民族隨手創作的天性。其中居住於撒哈拉沙漠北部、北非歷史最悠久的原住民——柏柏人（Berber），是北非地毯重要的編織及傳承者。

Berbers in Al-Maġrib, North Africa

The heat of the sun and dryness formed the Sahara Desert, the world's largest desert, in northern Africa. Amidst the dry sand and dust, Morocco, located in the northwestern part of the Sahara, is known as "a cool land under the scorching sun."

Like the Central Mountains of Taiwan blocking the typhoon from the east, the Atlas Mountains in the north of Africa block the hot air from the desert, keeping the northern part of the mountains humid and comfortable. The region is called "Al-Maġrib", covering modern time Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. From the Al-Maġrib area to the Western Sahara Desert, there is a group of ancient inhabitants and traditional nomads called "Berbers".

The Precious Tradition of leather crafts

The region is well-known for their soft leather, which has hundreds of years of tanning history. The relatively humid climate of Al-Maġrib allows the Berbers to raise cattle, sheep, donkeys, camels and other livestock.  In addition to transportation and meat source, the fur and leather from livestock are fully utilized and thus laying a solid foundation for their leather craftsmanship. Leather products can be seen everywhere in the lives of Berbers. Besides the Babouche slippers, leather chairs and stools can also be found in their living rooms.

北非地毯的編織工序

北非地毯是由懸掛木製紡織機垂直緯線上的無數個結累積而成。每天織女會將蒐集到的羊毛或駱駝毛用毛刷梳順後，整理成不同粗細的毛線球。

線材足夠織地毯時，婦女便架起編織機，將毛線來回垂直纏繞在織布機上作為「緯線」，接著將毛線來回穿進緯線中，並以名為「Medghas」的專用鐵梳讓經緯線壓得更紮實。

由於每天只能撥空至多兩到三小時編織，小型地毯最快要一週才能完成，大型一點的地毯更會費時好幾個月。

The Berber baskets

若親自造訪摩洛哥的地毯店，您會發現雖然同樣是手工編織地毯，在厚薄度、選色、圖騰、織法上仍有許多差異。這是因為柏柏人並非單一的民族，且居住範圍很廣，因此他們會以部落的名字將地毯分類，以下為北非地毯的兩種主要編織技法。