A lamp-maker from centuries past would find much to recognise in the techniques and processes followed by the maalem in our Marrakech brass atelier.
There’s our use of hand-drawn floral, geometric and calligraphic patterns; the patient piercing of thousands of tiny guide holes; the dextrous use of a jeweller’s saw to widen and shape each hole; and the uniform precision of the detailing etched onto the surface of the metal.
He would also approve of our use of a thicker gauge of brass and the skill with which our maalem hammer and beat the metal into shape…
And he would appreciate the way that we insist on soldering the sections of the lamp together with silver for additional structural integrity. Truly, he would say, these are lamps fit for a sultan.