Search anything

Close search
Back to Programme Archive

(Archive) Mahjouba Motor

Electric mobility supporting local artisans through a distributed and socially situated production system.

This project was part of DDW 2023
Mahjouba 4 — © Eric van Hove

Mahjouba Motor is an electric moped producer that supports the techniques, heritage, and relational working methods of Morocco's artisanat through a distributed production system for functional craft-made components.

Mahjouba Motor

Established in 2023, Mahjouba Motor acts as a meeting point for craftspeople and the electrical revolution. Working in partnership with artisanal producers and industrial manufacturers, Mahjouba Motor is building a sustainable social enterprise that can distribute work within craft networks while incorporating the benefits of machine made goods.

The collaborative model of the Mahjouba is focusing on the reanimation of craft through the making of creative connections between industrial design, the electric engine revolution, artisanship (20% of the active Moroccan workforce) and community development. The result is a decentralized socio-economic system that bridges the industrial approach and the local Moroccan made-to-order manufacturing and souk/distribution model.

Mahjouba 4

The Mahjouba 4, as a functional electric moped and living artwork, marks the final major development milestone on the road towards the Mahjouba 5; a consumer-ready vehicle which will go to market in 2024.

Over the past 7 years of development, each iteration of the Mahjouba moped has addressed a practical process in production through craft, design, and engineering, leading to the Mahjouba 4 which is the first in this range to be produced at scale. As the artwork transforms from ready-made to made-ready, it is freed from the orbit of the art market and subject to the conditions of industrial production and legislation.

At Dutch Design week, the Mahjouba Initiative will present components, objects, models, tools, and references from the past 7 years of development, focusing on how high and low tech, craft and industrial processes, and local and global value chains merge within the Mahjouba 4 electric moped.

Mahjouba 4 (Detail) — © Eric van Hove

Mahjouba 4 (Detail) — © Eric van Hove

Mahjouba 4 (Detail) — © Eric van Hove