3 simple tips to distinguish a hand-knotted Beni Ourain rug from a fake copy

The Beni Ourain carpet design has been dominating the world of interior design for years. No wonder - Yves Saint Laurent already liked these carpets from Morocco. And since they are so much in demand now, there is of course an offer for every customer. Some like the original and traditional Beni Ourain rugs, which are durable and of good quality. Others like cheap rugs or simply don't know what they are buying, so they buy a fake copy.

So how do you know if you are buying an original Beni Ourain from Morocco? For that, I have 3 tips to give you.

NUMBER ONE - THE MATERIAL

Very simple, but true... The original Beni Ourain carpet is made of sheep wool. You can easily see it already on a picture, if you want to order online. We often see bloggers posing with their fake Beni Ourain rugs that are not made of wool. Some of these fakes are made of polypropylene. Opt for Moroccan sheep's wool, it is certainly the most environmentally friendly option. Morocco has many sheep from which they take the wool without killing them and the wool grows back like our hair.

NUMBER 2 - The bangs of the carpet

Originally, the rugs of Beni Ourain have bangs only on one side. The reason for this is the way they are made - the weaving frame naturally does not give bangs when you start making a rug. So if you buy a vintage Beni Ourain, you can be sure that there are only bangs on the sides. As the demand for these rugs has become very high in recent years and customers want to have bangs on both sides, Moroccan Berber women have started adding bangs to the beginning of the rug. As the customer wishes... But if you want a truly traditional Beni Ourain rug, choose a rug that only has bangs on one side. It is more traditional.

NUMBER 3 - THE KNOTS

So how can you tell the difference between the machine that made one and the original? When you turn the FALSE carpet inside out, all the knots are equal. You can see that the machine was made because it looks perfectly made. The original Beni Ourain rugs are also well made, but the knots are slightly different, not as perfect as the machine-made ones.