Zouak

The Moroccan art of hand-painted wood, which adorns ceilings, beams, doors and furniture with polychrome geometric and floral motifs. Zouak combines coloured pigments and sometimes gold leaf over a prepared ground, extending Arab-Andalusian and Berber traditions. In palaces and riads converted into hotels, these painted cedar ceilings rank among the most precious and identifiable heritage features, requiring specialist craftsmen for their creation and restoration.