The famous Fez blue pottery — the cobalt-and-white earthenware that fills every shop in the medina — is produced in a cluster of kilns on the Route de Sefrou, about 3km south of the city centre. Visiting the kilns is a genuine glimpse of craft production at scale: potters working wheels, painters applying the cobalt oxide designs freehand, rows of pieces drying in the sun before firing in wood-fed kilns.
Most kilns have a showroom attached and sell their production directly. Prices here are substantially lower than in the medina shops — perhaps a third to a half for equivalent quality — because there is no chain of middlemen. The selection runs from the classic cobalt-on-white patterns to more contemporary designs. Heavy, fragile pottery is difficult to travel with, but the kilns will pack and ship orders. A petit taxi from the medina costs about 15-20 dirhams.