Abdel-Kader Ouazzani, the last of Morocco’s brocade master weavers, has been repeating the same gestures for 63 years in his dilapidated workshop in the heart of the old city of Fez.
His skilful hands intricately create shimmering silk fabrics, enhanced with gold or silver thread, for bridal jewellery, designer creations and/or high-end furnishings.
He is secretive about the “rules of the art” which he learned long ago in his youth, when, he says, “there were no industrial machines” to do the job then.
His work is both physical and meticulous: It takes an entire day to weave a meter of brocade. His rare fabrics cost up to 5,000 dirhams per meter ($560), depending on the complexity of the patterns.
Ouazzani says he can’t find a young apprentice to take over his workshop. As fashions have changed, the wide, colourful belts that for centuries were the pride of the master weavers of Fez, gradually stopped selling.
