OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
The public programme
The public programme is the way the work finds its buyers, the masters are seen as masters, and a culture present in Europe today almost only as a labour statistic becomes visible again as a civilisation.
What it includes
- — Exhibitions. The work of the house and that of the workshops of Fez, shown as craftsmanship and not as folklore.
- — Lectures. Architecture, ornament, calligraphy and the law of the crafts, with scholars and with the masters themselves.
- — Music and tables. Concerts of al-ala and malhun, and a cuisine made in the house. It is the way most people agree to come the first time.
- — Short residencies. Periods of one or two weeks for students and designers from the European schools.
Inside the house, and under the rule of the house
Every event takes place in the house and according to its rules. The visitor sees a community at work rather than a set arranged for him, and the difference between this and a cultural centre lies entirely there. The practical consequence is that the times of the events fit the workshop hours, and not the other way round.
It begins with Morocco
The first cycle concerns Morocco, for a reason of origin: the masters come from Fez, the techniques they bring have their documentation there, and the workshops the house will work with in the first years are those. Nothing prevents the programme from widening in later years to other traditions: the reciprocity clause of the statutes pushes exactly in that direction.