“Throughout history, women handled the Haima. In a physical way,first. To weave, sew, maintain, assemble, disassemble the tent.Women and community. This is the Tuisa, a tent which can stand more than 200 pounds. One year for the weaving, ten hands to sew it, twenty hands to carry it ”. … ”They give the weave a solid texture, impervious to the cold of the night and winter, heat from the most intense sun. ”
Christiane Perregaux, “Women of the Desert”
Installed in the forecourt of L’Institut du Monde Arabe by the River Seine in the very heart of Paris during the Contemporary Morocco exhibition, this gigantic tent is an innovative interpretation of the traditional “Frig” Saharawi tent. Entirely handwoven from camel and goat wool in the traditional way by a cooperative of Moroccan women, this flexible artwork covers a surface of five thousand square feet.
Easily assembled and disassembled by nomadic peoples during their desert journeys throughout Morocco, this type of soft architecture is an ephemeral and mobile installation, where height variations give a topographical and territorial dimension.
This contemporary tent combines history and technical innovation, while creating a large, free-access space hosting a literary/coffee place, a performance space, a design store, and an exhibition of contemporary Moroccan handicrafts.
It is a tribute to the ancient peoples of the desert as well as an experimental  mutation of these Bedouin tents, where their history preserved while expanding their architectural vocabulary.
Thanks to its woolen cloth, our tent is a blend of organic, rough, dense, almost living architecture. This installation creates a face to face conversation between the matricial and flexible architecture of the tent, sensually facing Jean Nouvel’s glass and steel façade in a feminine way.