From The Sahara to Park Avenue

September 01, 2016

From The Sahara to Park Avenue

Mats from the nomadic tribes of the Sahara desert have wandered all the way to New York’s prestigious 740 Park Avenue. In this interior, architect to the stars Peter Marino has used the stark elegance of these mats, woven by women of the African desert, to great effect.

tuareg mat

Made in the first years of the 20th century, when great caravans criss-crossed north Africa, they speak of a dying way of life. When moving location, Tuareg and Maure tribes rolled up their homes, which were constructed, lined and furnished with mats.
tuareg mat

The women who wove them used convenient materials: palm, reeds and camel or goat leather. They decorated them with powerful symbols. The largest and most durable mats of high-ranking tribespeople were made with the hard midribs of massive raffia palm leaves, held together and decorated with strips of camel leather. They were sometimes painted.

tuareg children sleep in tuareg-tent in niger africatuaregmat

In the Tuareg world, mats are used as flooring and bedding. Traditionally, a tent is part of a woman’s dowry. She can reject her husband if he displeases her.

 

 

 

 

 

Tuareg mats from FJ Hakimian on Vimeo.

 

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