What should I buy in Morocco (best souvenirs)?

Morocco is one of the world's great shopping countries, because so much is still genuinely handmade. The crown jewel is the rug. Berber rugs come in styles worth knowing: the cream, plush, diamond-patterned Beni Ourain (the one you've seen in design magazines), the colourful rag-rug boucherouite, and flat-woven kilims. A good one is an heirloom. Take your time, see many, and remember a real wool rug is heavy and slightly irregular — perfection means a machine made it.

Leather is the next great buy, especially in Fes, home to the famous Chouara tanneries you can smell before you see. Babouche (the pointed slippers), satchels, jackets, and those flat-packed leather poufs that you stuff at home. Hold the leather to your nose — proper vegetable-tanned hide has a rich, earthy smell; a chemical reek means a shortcut. Lanterns are my other weakness: pierced brass and coloured glass that throw lace-patterns of light across a room.

For things that travel easily and won't bust your luggage allowance: argan oil (buy the cosmetic and culinary versions from a women's cooperative — the real stuff, cold-pressed, not cut with cheaper oil), saffron from Taliouine, ras el hanout and other spices scooped from the great pyramids in the spice souk, ceramics and hand-painted tagines from Safi and Fes, and silver Berber jewellery. A little olive-wood bowl or a leather notebook makes a perfect lightweight gift.

My one big plea: where you can, buy from artisan cooperatives and workshops rather than only the front-of-souk middlemen. You'll see the craft being made — women cracking argan nuts, a potter at the wheel, a weaver at the loom — pay a fairer share to the maker, and walk away with a story attached to the object. I'm always happy to steer you to the genuine cooperatives and away from the tourist-tat factories.