Moroccan Thuya wood mirror

Handmade Moroccan Thuya Wood Mirror — Carved in Essaouira

This handmade Moroccan thuya wood mirror is carved from the burl root of the thuya tree, a wood that grows in only one place on earth: the Atlas foothills behind Essaouira, on Morocco’s Atlantic coast. The craft has been concentrated in that one town for centuries, passed from father to son in workshops clustered around the harbor.

What Thuya Wood Is

Thuya (Tetraclinis articulata) is a slow-growing conifer. The prized part is not the trunk but the burl — the gnarled root mass beneath the soil, where the grain twists into dense whorls and eyes that cannot be found anywhere in the straight wood above.

A burl takes decades to form. The pattern in your mirror frame is a record of how that particular root grew around rocks and through dry seasons, and it cannot be reproduced. This is why thuya has been valued since Roman times, when tables made from it sold for the price of a house.

The wood is naturally aromatic. A faint cedar-like scent lingers for years and is the traditional mark of genuine thuya.

Hand-Carved and Hand-Polished

The frame is carved by hand and finished with wax rather than lacquer, so the grain stays visible and the wood can breathe. Some frames carry inlaid detail in lemonwood or mother-of-pearl, set piece by piece into cut channels.

No stain is used. The color — ranging from honey to deep reddish brown, often within the same frame — is the natural tone of the burl brought out by polishing.

Where to Hang It

Thuya’s warm tone works against white plaster, exposed brick, and cool grey walls alike. Common placements:

Entryway — the first thing guests see, and practical for a last check before leaving.

Bathroom — but see the care section below regarding humidity.

Above a console or dresser — the traditional use, where the frame reads as furniture rather than decoration.

Gallery wall — a mirror breaks up a wall of framed prints and bounces light into rooms that do not get much.

Specifications

Overall dimensions 40 cm × 30 cm (15.7″ × 11.8″)
Mirror glass 30 cm × 20 cm (11.8″ × 7.9″)
Frame material Solid thuya burl wood
Finish Natural beeswax polish, no stain or lacquer
Mounting Hanging hardware fitted on reverse
Orientation Hangs portrait or landscape
Origin Handmade in Essaouira, Morocco
Weight Approximately 1.4 kg
Care Instructions

Dust with a dry, soft cloth. Do not use furniture polish sprays, which contain silicones that build up on waxed wood and dull it over time.

Reapply a thin coat of beeswax or neutral furniture wax once a year. Rub it in with a cloth, let it sit ten minutes, then buff.

Clean the glass with a cloth sprayed away from the frame — never spray glass cleaner directly at the mirror, as liquid running into the frame joint will mark the wood.

On bathrooms: thuya handles normal humidity, but sustained steam in a small unventilated bathroom will eventually lift the wax finish. If you hang it in a bathroom, use the extractor fan and re-wax more often.

Natural Variation

No two thuya frames match. Grain pattern, eye density, and color depth vary from piece to piece, and the photographs show one representative example rather than the exact frame you will receive.

Small natural fissures and dark inclusions are inherent to burl wood. They are stabilized during carving and are part of what makes the material valuable, not defects.

Direct from Essaouira

This mirror ships directly from Morocco with no importer markup in between. Delivery to the United States takes 5–10 business days with full tracking, and shipping is free on every order.

Mirrors are packed with reinforced protection around the glass. If a piece arrives damaged, send us a photograph and we will replace it — no return shipping required.

Not right for you? Return it in its original condition and your refund is processed within 72 hours of arrival.