I am born in 1959 and I am visiting Marrakech since 20 years. I have been a collector of berber rugs since 1997. i am the co-owner , curator and artistic director of the GALERIE DEMESURE in France since 1999;
very early i began to source berber rugs to resale them through the GALERIE DEMESURE . Some trade customers visiting the GALERIE DEMESURE did ask me to source for them and my business of export of berber rugs was born ! My first important customer has been ANTHROPOLOGIE in the USA for which i did source more then 500 rugs.
During all these years, i did developed my expertise sourcing directly all over the High and Middle Atlas moutains ; it means that with an old four- wheel drive Landrover, i was spending some weeks visiting valley after valley, village after village, home after home ; Scouring the length and breadth of the villages in the Middle and High Atlas mountains , i have appropriated the differences of styles, of symbols, of techniques.
Since his arrival in Morocco, Jean Yves has been fascinated by the boucherouite and berber rugs and particularly the Azilal and Beni Ourain rugs ; He was so intrigued by the modernism expressed in this tribal art. The fluidity of the colours and the abstract design in these carpets called out to him and very soon he had begun to collect them and to hang them on the wall contributing to the notion of "painting rugs".
Within a few years, he had gathered an impressive collection and started to promote their sale. For a couple of years there was little interest, since the materials used were often such scraps, that these carpets seemed destined to remain domestic rugs.
Beside my entrepeneurial skills , i have always been attracted by the esthetics and the design. As curator and artistic director of the GALERIE DEMESURE, I sought during many years young artists and designers to promote them at the GALERIE DEMESURE.
The international success has been immediate and through my experience of owner of an art gallery in France, I have been able to develop a network of resellers through today more than 40 countries;
I am working with many interior designers, with many concept shops , and since 2013 with art galleries.
I don’t want to show off but I am recognized now as the specialist of the boucherouite rugs.
The requests of my customers obliged me to enlarge my selection of rugs and I have added since 2012 two sections to my website : the Azilal rugs which are wool hand weaved rugs with incredible abstract patterns and the Beni Ouarain which are famous since the 1970’s for their luxuriant high pile natural virgin wool and black and white designs.
i love what i do , it is a passion and i am so happy to share it with other people and not only in a business point of view ; i am organizing some exhibitions, i am the adviser of several famous collectors, i am working in a fair trade philosophy with two associations of women to help them to be more independent from their husbands.
