The thick, long strands prompted one designer to say “it is like having a bearskin in the house,” and indeed, these rugs were originally woven for warmth in the winter, and decoration in the summer. They are constructed in the typical Berber knot, which encircles two strands of the warp instead of one, making them particularly supple.

Although Morocco’s color-saturated decoration and dress have long inspired artists such as Matisse, the rugs from the northeastern, altitudinous colder climate present a more subtle tradition. Woven from un-dyed, natural wool, the field is cream and the decoration is picked out in delicate lines of a henna-like brown. In some rugs, pile alternates with bands of flat weave, and color from natural dyes picked up at a market. The deep pile from the sheep of the sunny mountainside grazing lands is so highly prized that Mr. Hakimian’s weavers in other parts of the world have inquired as to the feasibility of importing it for use in their rugs.