With a culture that goes back thirty centuries from the imprints left by the Romans, Berbers to those left by the most recent Arab civilizations, Moroccan's artists from across the kingdom have sophisticated their creative effort into producing infinite variations of abstract and geometric motifs.

Exquisite Moroccan craftsmanship is evident on hand-woven rugs, ceramics, engraved jewelry and other metalwork. Popular with tourist and natives, the decorative henna tattoos often display the motifs from all these sources.

The extraordinary craftsmanship of the Touareg for instance occupies a fundamental place in ritual and ceremony, acts as safeguards against evil or disease and serves as a means of propitiating ancestors or gods. These remarkable adornments speak of values and beliefs, of achievements and status.

An insider's tour of the souks, or craftsmen's markets, in Morocco demonstrates the timeless appeal and adaptability of the materials, methods, and visual language of the country's crafts. Turned, carved, and inlaid wood; pierced, twisted, and forged metal; glazed ceramics; hand-woven and dyed textiles; bold jewelry of silver and semi-precious stones - in the hands of master craftsmen and women, these materials are wrought into traditional patterns or transformed into contemporary styles unlike those found elsewhere in the world.