Berber wall painting

We spotted this charmingly painted wall of a Berber house in Ouno’s great post about the beautiful “broken” geometry of Berber rugs from the Beni Ourain region. We were intitially inspired by the idea of chalking or painting an image/pattern like this on the side of ANY building – a sort of mental d-i-y  fantasy –  when we got blown away by this bit of text about the rugs, which applies to so much else.

“this semi-controlled disorder is said to function as a talisman against evil and as a promoter of  fertility. But it also seems to emanate from the nomadic culture’s more general tolerance of uncertainty, nothingness and change.” 

The rug themselves offering curiously modernist designs to apply elsewhere, perhaps for painting fabrics, walls or floors.

Berber "broken" geometry  rug design

Check out more beautiful designs here and at here.

Related posts: diy: words on walls
drawing on the wall (cave of forgotten dreams)
d-i-y reverse painted glass as wall covering and…
diy: words on walls
we’re back! (let’s paint a wall…)

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4 replies on “copy this: the ‘broken geometry of berber designs

  1. Wonderful! Thank you for finding and sharing. I love the idea of disorder. Having studied folk culture of Eastern Europe and reactions there to evil it is intriguing to see the Berber response.

  2. Wonderful piece. Having made a book this past year called Beautiful Oops, this is right up my alley! What a lovely concept. I want to paint my house now!

  3. It’s funny to see my own words quoted! I am glad you reminded me of this wall painting – I’d like to see more of that myself. I was just in India and found some Rajasthani textile designs that exhibit the same broken geometry – I’ll upload a photo soon.

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