Pottery in Fes, February 2026

I haven’t done much posting lately. I know I have said this before, and I will likely say it again. Life has a habit of getting in the way of my plans. I am cleaning up my photo pile and I am so excited about all of the photos. I have decided to give you a small bit of my Moroccan expedition with Chava.

Our G-Adventure tour took us to several co-op factories. Doofus that I am I have failed to write down the name of this one. I am hoping one of my fellow tour-mates can refresh my memory so I can add it here.

This post is mostly a photo dump, with a some small comments. A more extensive discussion will be in the next post. Most of the photos are raw, without editing.

Lodema, this whole post is dedicated to you, and to all of my artisan friends. (Note: I had such a strong feeling that I needed to post this quickly. And I am happy that Lodema got a chance to see this before she left us.)

All photos are my own. Taken on a Samsung. I encourage you to enlarge the photos by clicking on them. It will give you a slide show, without the comments.

All of this is done on a kick wheel

This is the kiln.
Pottery is stacked inside a space roughly the size of 2 portapotties.
The fire is fed from that small opening at the bottom.

The hand prints are from the workers.

Lady Eddie, this is for you

This guy is chiseling into the top

layer of the glaze

I would love this staircase

Applying silver to the pottery

They offer shipping....I am so tempted
But they get squiffy when I mention shipping to USA
It seems that the tariffs are applied when the item is delivered.
Custom officials put a 20% tariff,
but they use the number of Dirham not the converted amount in dollars
So an item costing 1000 dirham (roughly $100)
gets a tariff of $200.
The factory then has to pay for return shipping and refund the sale.

Morocco is famous for its tile work
This cooperative is one of the best.
The following few photos are of several people doing this work.

These round pieces are done upside down in a frame.
Pieces the size of a coin are fitted, then flipped right side up.

This is a very special photo

Look closer.
This is an Islamic country. Very strict.
Women are not allowed to work with men.
But things are starting to change. Very slowly.
But here is a woman working in the same shop as men.

Painting is all done freehand

Comments

Sidney Grace said…

I love this post. With the potters and their wares. And I was tripping out a bit seeing the woman next to a fellow potter. I was clapping inside..

March 1, 2026 at 1:40 PM

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