Fassi Pottery

The most distinctive Moroccan pottery is made in Fes. We visited a pottery workshop as part of our Fes Old City tour. In the workshop there were two main products - pottery and mosaics

Pottery

First of all the clay has to be "made" in a process of drying, soaking and bleaching.

The potter starts with a lump of clay and with his feet stepping on the big wheel below he spins it around to form a jug or bowl or whatever he wants.
Then it's out to the sun to dry.

All the Fassi pottery is handpainted. We watched this man paint a bowl. It took about 10 minutes. 

The pottery is fired in one of these special ovens. 
​And the finished product......

.....my favourite porridge bowl!

​Mosaic

Mosaics are also made in the same workshop. Think of making a giant jigsaw-forever! That's what making a mosaic seemed to be like. There are some similarities with the pottery process. The tiles have to be fired in the huge ovens. 

In this part of the workshop, workers have to break the tiles into small pieces for the mosaic making.

The pieces are then passed onto the mosaic maker. In the photograph above he is making a frame for a mirror. This mosaic will take him days. He lays out the pieces upside down and then glues a wooden covering to the back. It is a long, slow process, requiring a lot of concentration.
Some of the bigger pieces photographed take months.