Pottery, basketwork and wrought-iron furniture pile up in the deserted stalls of the Oulja arts and crafts complex in Sale near the Moroccan capital Rabat.

A volunteer distributes a free Iftar meal to a man during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Rabat, Morocco, on May 14. Photo: Xinhua

Artisans have been starved of income for almost three months because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Coronavirus is the knockout punch: Without help, without support, our profession will disappear," said Youssef Rghalmi, a 49-year-old potter.

In the family workshop, where skills have been handed down from generation to generation, the clay has dried up, the oven is turned off and the nine employees no longer turn up for work.

The last order, for a customer from France who called off her visit because of border closures, is gathering dust in a corner.

"We were already struggling to survive because lifestyles have changed," said Mohamed Touel, a master carver of "gebs" decorative plaster.

"Traditional trades are being lost because young people don't want to take over." 

The enterprising 62-year-old had added a small restaurant to his shop but it closed because of lockdown measures imposed since mid-March.

Foreign tourists have vanished, the lockdown has paralyzed economic life and local customers "have other priorities," Ahmed Driouch said in his store cluttered with copper lamps, ceramics, daggers, jewelry, inlaid chests and carpets.

Business has been "two hundred percent affected by the virus," he said, grimly forecasting it would take "at least two or three years" to return to normal.
Newspaper headline: Morocco artisans fear 'knockout punch'