The beginnings
Five years ago, we started our business with the aim of introducing hand-knotted Moroccan rugs to Hungary and the neighbouring countries. When choosing the brand name, we were looking for a category-building term as back then this rug style was relatively unknown in these regions. ‘Berber’, the widely recognized international name for this style of carpet, seemed to be an obvious choice.
The journey of transformation
As we delved deeper into the Moroccan carpet manufacturing and distribution landscape, the challenges faced by Moroccan weavers became increasingly apparent to us. These artisans are often vulnerable to exploitation by wholesaler middlemen, diminishing their earnings by purchasing their rugs at very low prices.
It quickly became clear that the only way of ensuring fair compensation and thus providing the deserved recognition to the talented artisans is to cooperate with them directly and to put more and more emphasis on building direct relationships.
We organized exploratory trips throughout the different regions of Morocco, seeking weaving teams and invested considerable energy, time, and resources to find artisan collectives for all rug styles we offer. This wasn’t an easy task as authentic, female-led weaving communities are difficult to reach and to connect to and the long-term cooperation is quite challenging as well.
Step by step, our business model has been centred around supporting our weaver partners and our local team to our best ability, by modifying our pricing, logistics and communication.
We’ve implemented higher purchase prices into our pricing structure, regularly visit the weavers to get involved into the rug making process, give constant feedback to improve quality, and instead of simply meeting our stock requirements, ensure a consistent order schedule that is customized to provide a sustainable livelihood for our artisan partners.
As we got to know each other better, we’ve developed close personal bonds and friendships with the locals. With our frequent visits to the villages of the weavers, we preserve and nurture these important connections. Gradually, we have become deeply involved in the daily lives and challenges of the Amazigh communities. We have been impressed by the dedication, resilience, and positive outlook of the Amazigh women, and the way they manage their families’ daily lives, often under very difficult circumstances.
Simultaneously, we also started to feel that the name ‘Berber’ does not reflect the appreciation and gratitude we feel towards these wonderful people. Instead, it slowly became a barrier to unfolding the extraordinary stories of our artisans and their rich culture.
In contrast with the term ‘Amazigh’, meaning ‘free man’ we found the colonial connotation of the term ‘Berber’, meaning ‘barbarian, outsider’ more and more at odds with our approach and mission of empowerment and respect for local makers.
Thus, the idea of a name change became increasingly apparent, and after a year of extensive search, we settled on ‘Abra’, a name which we feel aligning perfectly on many levels.
Our new name ‘Abra’
'Abra' is derived from the Amazigh word 'abrid', meaning ‘path’, ‘way’. We think this word mirrors the exciting and sometimes winding journey we've undertaken over the past five years
filled with rich Moroccan travels, meaningful encounters and friendships. All of these experiences led us to pursuing our business with a more sensitive and responsible approach. There is no ‘right way’ to do this, we are constantly experimenting, sometimes finding the right path immediately, while occasionally taking detours.
Abra also connects to the Hungarian word 'ábra', typically associated with the figurative or abstract images on our rugs. These images might be old motifs with prehistoric origins or line drawings that narrate the artisan’s personal story. In every instance, nonetheless, they are central to the design composition of the rugs.
Finally, we sought to weave a sense of womenhood into our new name as well, this being core to all aspects of our business from the feminine symbols in the designs to the empowerment of the artisans through their craft. ‘Abra’ is a female name too, used by many in the region and we feel that it conveys the feminine essence of our little business: rugs crafted by women, representing female strength within a female-led business.