Experiences Related to Leather Crafting in the Sahara

Leather crafting is one of the main artisan activities for desert dwellers in Morocco. The nomadic lifestyle, which involves sheep and camel herding, provides a significant quantity of hides, from which practical products are crafted and used daily in the search for water and pasture. In the Saharan regions, tanning and leather crafting are considered exclusively women’s domains. Women divide labour based on age, experience, expertise, and competency. Their tasks include cleaning hides by removing fur and wool, and dyeing them with natural mineral and plant-based dyes to create intricate geometric decorations, which reflect the artistic creativity of women in our desert regions. Women use tools such as knives for cutting leather, a leather punch, and an awl, a tool consisting of a metal spike fixed in a wooden haft. Leather crafting produces items suited to the nomadic lifestyle, such as bedding, tent decorations, camel saddles, sturdy travel bags (tasoufra), and pillows (asrama). It also includes various sizes of decorated leather pouches used for storing clothes and tea-making utensils, among other things. The craftswomen have developed this craft by creating innovative products to cater to the needs of mode lifestyles. They have demonstrated their creativity in crafting a diverse range of boxes for storing jewellery, perfumes, and stationery. Although the communes practising this craft have undergone profound changes, the inhabitants of the Saharan regions have maintained and continuously evolved their expertise to preserve their local cultural identity and provide an economic source for craftswomen.