A Guide to Essaouira Rugs: Tradition, Motif and Colour

Essaouira is a real place in the history of carpet weaving, and the name on a modern rug is a reference to a specific tradition rather than decoration. Here is what it refers to, and what the pattern is actually saying.

Where the design comes from

Essaouira is a walled fishing port on the Atlantic where the light is white and the wind never stops, and its colour — bleached blue, sand, salt — is entirely unlike inland Morocco.

In our range this sits in the Bohemian collection. The rooms of people who brought things home from everywhere and refused to match them — motifs from several traditions set deliberately side by side.

How to read the pattern

Faded blues and sandy neutrals in a relaxed pattern. Everything reads as though it has been left out in sun and salt air.

Essaouira in a machine washable rug

The bohemian look depends on motifs from different traditions sitting together without any of them dominating. Get the balance wrong and it stops reading as collected and starts reading as busy.

Our Essaouira designs are woven in chenille polyester on a woven cotton backing with a non-slip finish. That construction is what makes the rug washable at 30°C in a domestic machine — there is no latex or rubber layer to crack, and no wool to felt. It is a genuinely different object from the hand-knotted rugs the name refers to, and it is meant to be: one is an heirloom, the other is a floor covering you can put in the wash.

Colours it comes in

We currently weave 1 Essaouira design, across 2 colour families — red & burgundy and pink & fuchsia. Prices run from £50 for the 60 × 100 cm to £185 for the 200 × 300 cm, with delivery to the UK and Europe included.

What size to buy

Layered pattern suits the mid sizes and runners, where it can sit alongside other pattern without taking over the room.

Every design is woven in all ten sizes: 60 x 100, 80 x 150, 100 x 200, 120 x 180, 80 x 300, 100 x 300, 155 x 230, 200 x 300, 160 round, 200 round cm. We would put Essaouira in the living room, the bedroom, the dining room and the kitchen before anywhere else.

Common questions

Is this the same as a hand-knotted Essaouira?

No. A hand-knotted Essaouira is a different object entirely — tied by hand in wool or silk, often over months, and priced accordingly. What we make is a power-woven washable rug that uses the Essaouira design vocabulary. The pattern is the inheritance; the construction is modern.

What colours does Essaouira come in?

2 colour families — red & burgundy and pink & fuchsia. We file a rug under the colour it reads as across a room, not the colour covering the most area, so an ivory ground with strong blue motifs is listed under blue.

Where should a Essaouira rug go?

The living room, The bedroom, The dining room and The kitchen suit it best. Anchor the sofa and coffee table. Because it washes at 30°C, the rooms most people avoid putting a rug in — kitchen, hallway, under a dining table — are the ones where it earns its keep.

Living with it

• Machine washable at 30°C on a gentle cycle — sizes up to 120 × 180 cm fit a standard 7 kg drum.
• Non-slip woven cotton backing: no separate underlay needed on wood, tile or laminate.
• Low pile, so robot vacuums pass over it without snagging.
• No latex, glue or rubber crumb — nothing to break down into dust.
• Dry flat or over a rail. Never tumble dry.