Crimson & Blue & Beige

Crimson is the Fassi embroidery — the deep vivid crimson of the Fassi (from Fès — فاسي — of Fès) hand-embroidery and the characteristic Fès red leather goods. The Fassi embroidery tradition: Fès is the most important center of traditional Moroccan hand-embroidery (terz — from Arabic: طراز — tiraz — the term for embroidered cloth in classical Arabic — the same root that gives the English word 'tiara' via the medieval Islamic textile trade) — the most characteristic Fassi embroidery style is the cross-stitch or double-running-stitch embroidery in monochromatic deep red thread on white or natural-colored linen ground — the most elegant and most restrained of the four major Moroccan regional embroidery styles (the others being the polychrome Rabati, the geometric Salé, and the mirror-work Marrakshi). The Fès tanneries: the most immediately recognizable and most internationally photographed craft industry in Morocco is the Fès tanneries (dabbagha — دباغة — the leather-working district of Fès el-Bali, centered on the famous Chouara Tannery — the largest and oldest tannery in Fès — first established in the 11th century CE — still using the same medieval circular stone dyeing vats — howd — and the same traditional processes). The characteristic deep vivid crimson of Fès tanned leather: the most celebrated product of the Fès tanneries is the distinctive deep crimson-to-wine-red 'Moroccan leather' — produced using pomegranate bark and various mineral dyes after the initial vegetable tanning in the characteristic vats of pigeon dung (the most important and most effective mordanting agent in the Fès tanning process — the high urea content softens and opens the leather fiber for dye penetration). Blue is the Chefchaouen — the pure electric blue of Chefchaouen (the 'Blue City' — شفشاون — also: Chaouen — the Berber name — the name means 'look at the peaks/horns' — referring to the two mountain peaks — Ras el-Ma and Jbel Kelaa — that dominate the skyline above the city). The blue walls: Chefchaouen's blue walls are one of the most internationally photographed urban phenomena in the world — the specific vivid electric blue (a deliberately intensely saturated, medium-to-deep blue, slightly greenish in some buildings and pure electric in others, applied in annual renewal by householders to all exterior walls, stairs, and surfaces of the medina) covers essentially every exterior surface in the old city. The historical reason for blue: the most widely repeated explanation (not definitively proven historically) is that the Sephardic Jewish community that took refuge in Chefchaouen after the expulsion from Spain in 1492 (when the Alhambra Decree of Ferdinand and Isabella ordered the expulsion of all Jews from Spain — the most consequential expulsion of the medieval world, ending the most culturally productive Jewish community in the Mediterranean) introduced the tradition of painting walls blue as a reminder of heaven and as a symbol of the divine presence — the same tradition that places blue tekhelet thread in the tzitzit of the Jewish prayer shawl. Beige is the Fès stone — the warm pale beige of the ancient Fès el-Bali walls and paving. Fès el-Bali: 'Old Fès' — the oldest section of the Fès medina, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 — is the largest car-free urban area in the world, covering approximately 350 hectares and containing approximately 150,000 inhabitants — the most intensely populated medieval urban fabric still in continuous use in the world. The beige stone: the ancient stone and rammed-earth walls of Fès el-Bali — accumulated over more than 1,200 years of continuous habitation — are in the most characteristic warm pale beige-to-sandy tone of the local Zerhoun limestone and the local earth pise (rammed earth construction using the most iron-poor local soil, producing the most neutrally warm pale beige).