About Karchel
Handmade Moroccan pieces, bought direct in Fes.
Karchel is a home and living shop. We buy handmade Moroccan pieces directly from the workshops that make them, and we describe every one of them plainly — what it is, what it is made of, and who made it.
How we buy
Direct from the workshop, not through an agent.
We buy from artisan workshops in Fes face to face — no export agent, and no showroom margin stacked on top. Rugs, leather poufs and ottomans, hand-painted wood, woven palm-leaf baskets, ceramics and brass lighting are all made using techniques passed down through generations.
Buying this way is slower and it does not scale neatly. It is also the only way to know exactly who made a piece and how.
Our one rule
We say what a thing is.
One rule governs the whole catalogue: where a product is handmade, we say so and we say where it was made. Where it is manufactured, we say that too. We do not blur the two to make anything sound more romantic than it is.
We name the material
Wool, goatskin, lead-free glaze, solid brass, palm leaf. If a product page names a material, that is the material.
We name the place
Fes for ceramics, leather, wood and brass; the Middle Atlas for wool rugs and textiles. Where a piece is not made in Morocco, the page says so.
We do not invent numbers
You will not find a self-reported statistic in large type anywhere on this site. Specifications come from the product itself; anything we cannot evidence, we leave out.
What we are for
Why Karchel exists.
Our mission
To put genuine Moroccan craft into homes outside Morocco, described plainly enough that you know exactly what you are buying before you buy it.
Most of what is sold abroad as Moroccan craft passes through several hands before it reaches a shelf, and the description loosens at every step. We buy in Fes ourselves so that the person writing the product page has held the piece.
Our vision
A shop where "handmade" still means something specific — the maker's hand visible in the piece, and ours visible in how it is described.
We would rather lose a sale to an honest description than win one with a vague adjective. Over time we want the catalogue to read as a reference for what these crafts actually are, not a catalogue of romantic copy.
What we hold to
Four things we do not bend on.
Craft over volume
We would rather list fewer pieces we can describe properly than fill the catalogue with things we have never handled.
Plain description
Material, technique and origin, in ordinary words. No adjective is doing work that a fact should be doing.
Buying face to face
We deal with the workshop directly. It is slower than sourcing through an agent, and it is why we can answer questions about how a piece was made.
Standing behind it
Thirty days to change your mind, free return shipping on approved returns, and a reply to every email within 24 to 48 hours.
What to expect
No two pieces are identical.
Because these pieces are made by hand, small variations in colour, pattern and size are normal. They are not defects.
Two poufs cut from the same hide will differ slightly. A hand-painted glaze will not repeat exactly from one firing to the next. Natural dye shifts across a single rug. Where a piece varies, the product page says so before you buy — and if it still is not right for the room, it is covered by our 30-day return policy.
The catalogue
What you will find here.
Where we are
Based in the Fes medina.
Fes has been a centre of Moroccan craft for centuries — the tanneries, the potteries and the wood workshops are still working in the medina today. We are based there, which is what makes buying face to face possible in the first place.
Fes Medina, Fes-Meknès 30000, Morocco
Email: support@karchel.shop
Phone: +212 643031588
Monday–Friday, 9:00–18:00 GMT
Buying from us
Free US shipping, thirty days to decide.
We ship to the United States, with free shipping and no minimum order. Small pieces travel by parcel courier; larger rugs and furniture ship by insured freight. Every order is covered by our 30-day return policy.
Questions before you buy? We would rather answer them first.