Inspiration
Life is full of moments that we do not perceive as transcendental when they happen, but that end up marking our lives...
This story begins on a train trip in August 1960. In one of its cars, a dressmaker and a tailor were arguing over a suitcase. And from the discussion, love emerged. Josep Monllau, the tailor, and Ángeles, the dressmaker, ended up being my parents. From them I inherited my passion for fabrics and with them I shared the best summers of my childhood, sliding down long colorful slides, improvised with rolls of fabric...
The story jumps to 40 years later, during one of my trips to Atlas, Morocco. When, instead of following tourists, I spent hours and hours visiting carpet and blanket stores, learning to know the product in its origin, discovering the stories and lives of its artisans. It was just then when I began to dream of creating my own rugs and doing it my way: with love, dedication and imprinting on each one of them the magic of the places I had known.
I returned home with my head full of ideas and the first thing I did was go have coffee with my friend Óscar. In addition to being one of my best friends, Óscar is a very talented creative designer and the idea that had been floating around in my head excited him. A few days later Óscar and I found ourselves again in Fez, where Aziz was waiting for us, a Berber with whom I had met by chance a few years before, at a wedding in Tangier.
Aziz's father had been a merchant and carpet weaver, so the connection between us was immediate. I can say, without hesitation, that he is one of the purest people I have ever met, so when our project began to take shape, I had no doubt that Aziz had to be part of it.
A few months later, we were already working side by side, Óscar, Aziz and I, Núria. Starting to design our rugs and blankets, thread by thread and knot by knot, and traveling in search of the artisans who made them a reality: Berber families with whom we felt honored to collaborate and in which women ended up being the main protagonists.
And this is how Shuia Shuia was born, little by little, how the best stories are forged. A story that began among souks, kashbas and villages in the mountains and that dreams of continuing in your home, dressing it with the warmth of our blankets and rugs made by hand on artisanal looms. With cotton, pure virgin sheep's wool and, above all, with a lot of love.
