For the lovers of vintage rugs - a 2024 collection update.
I started Nouvelle Nomad almost 8 years ago now, when I first came to Marrakech and fell in love with this city.
The market for buying vintage rugs online was a much smaller and quite niche thing back then.
I couldn't believe how many of these beautiful handmade treasures were just sitting out the back of dusty rug shops. It was such a joy to sort through them all to find the gold.
In the early days I spent days, weeks, months even with shop owners in the carpet souk and visiting the storage riads of specialist carpet merchants, talking all things Moroccan carpets, culture, history and business over mint tea.
For me, coming from a background in major fashion retailers - starting my own business was about a slower more mindful pace, celebrating the beauty of handmade, and finding new homes for these beautiful textiles that already exist rather than producing more.
And the beautiful relationships with local suppliers and business partners who have become dear friends over the years - many who I'm still working with today.
These days with the increase in popularity of Moroccan rugs online (Australia, Europe, the US...) the beautiful vintage pieces in great condition are becoming much harder to find.
The internet has been flooded with a lot of newer made low quality rugs being passed off as vintage.
And sadly - a lot of mass produced homewares brands calling their machine made rugs "Berber rugs" "Moroccan style Rugs" and "Beni Rugs" when they're actually being made in India and other regions.
So I'm doing the 2024 vintage rug collections a little differently...
I'm doubling down on why I started Nouvelle Nomad in the first place.
Since I'm based back over here in Marrakech again for now, I'm in no rush to get the new collection together and into a container to send back to Australia this year.
I'm taking my time with collecting just the best of the best. The most unique, the authentic vintage and the great original condition pieces. So far I've come across some incredible beauties.
But sadly, a lot of the old style rugs I'm seeing have been chemically bleached (blame western neutral colour palette trends...) or are badly damaged beyond repair. Some I'll still buy for making cushions and for using in our leather collections.
In the process I'm seeing hundreds and hundreds of rugs every week.
So if you have any requests or have your dream rug in mind, now is a good time to get in touch. There's examples on the website of previously sold favourites you might want to have a look through for ideas.
I can share my current in-stock catalogue with you to see if anything suits. (they wont all be going online...)
I look forward to hearing from you!
OK.. back to the rugs...
x Bridget
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