When we started the Madibashop project, one of the first stops we made was Morocco. We wanted to soak up their vitality, their smell, their art and their colours, we wanted to be able to collaborate with local artists and forge satisfying and lasting relationships with them, to be able to bring their art to you...
After long walks and seeing lots and lots of leather, we came across Khalid's workshop.
Khalid is a great artist who works with leather by hand and makes beautiful creations, from purses to bags and briefcases!
We are delighted to collaborate with him!
Moreover, a few meters away from his workshop, we could see with our own eyes the process of making leather in one of the most important tanneries in the country. In it, countless pits filled with natural dyes make up a colorful landscape as they take care of the production and coloring of the leather of the lamb, ox, goat and camel.
Traditional leather-making process:
The first step in traditional tanneries is to clean the skin superficially to apply large amounts of coarse salt and let it dry on roofs, so that it loses much of the excess water that has been added previously.
The second part consists of introducing the skins into huge white tanks filled with lime and pigeon droppings, where they are left to rest for several days. This process has two purposes: on the one hand, to finish removing everything that is not skin itself, and on the other to give it firmness.
At that time the process of "cleaning" the skin will be finished, and what will continue will have the purpose of giving it additional properties, such as softness and color. To do this, it will be immersed in the other tanks, which use materials such as fig paste and oils to give softness and tanning, and natural dyes to provide color.
Finally, there will be the drying process, which takes place on the roofs around the tannery. Once the skins are coloured and dry, they will go to the hands of the craftsmen who will transform them into elaborate bags, suitcases, shoes and coats, etc.
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