On a recent morning in Brooklyn, Nathan Ursch was meticulously photographing a new inventory of vintage Berber carpets at his New York gallery.
A few dozen hand-picked pieces had just arrived from Morocco.
Mr Ursch, 49, knows his craft, ensuring the colourful, hand-woven carpets are sorted by tribes of origin, year of making and dimensions, before cataloguing them on the website of Breuckelen Berber, the fine vintage Moroccan carpets business he founded with his wife over a decade ago.
“The more I dig into the history of Berber carpets, the more fascinated and interested I become,” he says as sips on a glass of orange blossom-flavoured sparkling water. “They're a doorway to the past.”
Mr Ursch speaks about his passion for the woven art of Berber carpets, a craft and tradition passed on from generation to generation by the indigenous people of North and sub-Saharan Africa.
Berbers inhabited that part of the world for tens of thousands of years – predating the arrival of the Romans – and had their own language, Amazigh, which is still spoken by millions of people in Morocco and neighbouring Algeria.
“I don't just look at it as the Berber culture’s past. It's all of our past,” says Mr Ursch, who shares a lifelong passion for design and the decorative arts with Brin Reinhardt, his wife and business partner.
The idea for Breuckelen Berber started 12 years ago when the couple decided to buy Moroccan carpets for their own home.
The search led them to Morocco and time-frozen villages in the Atlas Mountains. There, they discovered the unique combination of tribal history and modernity found in Berber woven arts.
Some of the Berber tribes have lived in remote mountainous areas for centuries with minimal external influence on their traditions and way of life.
“They might have the influence of a cellphone or maybe a television here or there. But for the most part … they were left alone. And I think there's a purity to that,” Mr Ursch tells The National.
“I look at them and [think] this is where we came from. This is all of our history, and they are still weaving and placing their ideas into these carpets.”
Mr Ursch grew up in the Midwest, where his family had a huge collection of Oriental carpets.
His parents were antique dealers with his father specialising in Native American textiles, especially Navajo rugs and tribal chiefs’ blankets.
Moroccan carpets, however, were his “own discovery”, and his parents knew nothing about this particular woven art.
To find the best pieces of vintage Berber carpets, most of which were family-woven and owned, Mr Ursch relies on his expertise but also on a network of local pickers, dealers and collectors in Morocco.
The competition can sometimes be fierce.
He recalls one time when he came across six “museum-worthy” carpets that, in a matter of days, switched hands from dealer to dealer in one part of Morocco to the other.
“I just couldn’t live without them,” he says. “So, it didn’t matter what the price was any more. I paid it and chased them down.
“It took three months to get these six carpets, and finally they were mine.”
Prices of vintage Berber carpets depend on factors such as size, condition, age, rarity, dyes used and style of motifs.
They can retail between $500 and $7,500 based on condition, year of production and size. Museum quality and rare Berber carpets can range from $5,000 to $50,000 at premiere galleries, Mr Ursch says.
Breuckelen Berber’s customers are mainly in the US, but people all over the world show interest in vintage Moroccan carpets.
“I have a client in South Africa that I'm dealing with right now, and I have clients in Singapore, Hong Kong, Vancouver, London, Germany, Belgium, Spain,” Mr Ursch said.
For him, it is also a way of giving a new life to these old rugs, some of which belonged to nomadic tribes and travelled through mountain passes and deserts on camels and donkeys.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company%20Profile
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
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Kat Wightman's tips on how to create zones in large spaces
- Area carpets or rugs are the easiest way to segregate spaces while also unifying them.
- Lighting can help define areas. Try pendant lighting over dining tables, and side and floor lamps in living areas.
- Keep the colour palette the same in a room, but combine different tones and textures in different zone. A common accent colour dotted throughout the space brings it together.
- Don’t be afraid to use furniture to break up the space. For example, if you have a sofa placed in the middle of the room, a console unit behind it will give good punctuation.
- Use a considered collection of prints and artworks that work together to form a cohesive journey.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
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What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
