Moroccan home decor

Moroccans are very proud of their houses and go to great length to decorate them inside and out. Moroccan decor is everywhere of late: traditional black on white Beni Ouarin carpets adorn every other home in magazines as do zellijs tiles (see a previous post: The zellij of Morocco) used on kitchen back-splashes and bathrooms. Hand-hammered metal lamps are painted and hung in groups for extra effect.
However, one must differentiate between traditional moroccan decor and Morocco-inspired interior design.

In Morocco, most if not all entertaining is done at home. A traditional living room must be big enough to accommodate large families and numerous friends. Typically, there is a wrap-around sofa and small tables placed here and there in front of it. The walls are often lavishly decorated and the fabrics always rich and colourful.

There is often no formal dining room and guests sit all around the room for dinner. Food is served on the small tables, sometimes in big tray-like dishes where everyone digs in. When you enter a house for the first time, you are offered warm milk (almond, goat or camel depending on the region) and some dates as a sign of welcome. You will also drink mint tea, what locals call "Moroccan whiskey".

In more modest houses the long sofas also serve as beds and every room is called a "salon" (drawing room) even if used as a place to sleep.

We once arrived early for lunch at a Moroccan house. We did not understand that "midi" (noon) meant well after one o'clock in the afternoon. We found some members of the family still sleeping on the sofas while the grandmother prepared the meal. Once they got up and cleared the sofas, we all sat down for a delicious chicken and vegetable couscous at around 2:00. No plates, everyone ate with their fingers from the serving dish. We were given spoons (it must have been the puzzled look on our faces). It was one of the best meals I have had in Morocco.

Then there is Moroccan style: the interpretation by non-Moroccans of Moroccan decoration.
What defines Moroccan style?

It can be a simple architectural detail as below. If it were not for the white scalloped transom, this could be a room anywhere but that doorway and reading nook give the room a Moroccan "ambiance".

Sometimes a few pillows and a lamp will be enough to feel that you are in Morocco somewhere.

A hanging lamp, a colourful Moroccan carpet and a pompom-edged wool bedspread will have the same effect. The headboard, table lamps and fireplace are very modern but the room gives off a distinct Moroccan feeling.

Get the full effect with architectural elements like the arched doorway, the thick nail-studded wood doors, the floor lamps and the red Moroccan runners on terracotta tiles known as bejmat. Or go for broke and cover the walls and floors with rainbow coloured zellijs.

Images: www.freinder-catalogue.co, www.asilahventure, cherif-nassima-cherif.blogspot.com, http-//happinessisapinkfoodog.co, villa-maroc.com, Threshold Goods & Design, Kasbah Bab Ourika, Pinterest 

ChefChaouen: the blue city

Chefchaouen, or Chaouen as it is commonly called, is also known as the blue city because its walls, streets and even flower pots are painted with a mixture of lime and the pigment of the anil plant called indigo. More or less anything that does not have a heartbeat gets a coat of blue paint here. 

Chaouen sits inland in the Rif mountains an hour and a half by car from Tangier and is a popular tourist destination not only because its colour is so striking but also because its medina is full of treasures begging to find a home.

This local woman takes her city's colour theme very seriously!

Indigo has insecticide properties and what started as a way to repel insects, became the symbol of the city. The small streets and alleys are a study in shades of blue from pale sky-blue to deeper hues and from purplish to greenish turquoise tones. The effect is striking and a great source of pride for the inhabitants of the city.

In a sea of blue, this hotel's stucco wall with intricate window frames and yellow fountain stands out. 

Inside, in the patio, there is just enough blue to remind us that we are in Chaouen. Note the motif on the arches on either side of the entrance.

The motif from the arches in the patio is carried over to the niche in the bedroom wall as is the blue theme of the city. This elegant detail gives the modestly decorated room an inimitable Moroccan flair.

Chaouen is also known for its wool production and blankets and rugs are made locally. One can see the weavers at work around town. Other locally made items such as this magnificent dark metal star lamp are for sale. 

Also for sale are soaps, spices and fragrant essential oils at the "pharmacie berbère", the local tribal "pharmacy" that specialises in remedies for everything and anything that ails you even, they claim, unrequited love.

The old fort was built in the 15th century by a sultan to repel the Portuguese invaders. In the 1920's during the Spanish protectorate of Morocco, it was used as an administrative building and served as a prison for, among other unfortunate souls, an uncooperative sultan. Temperatures rise to boiling point in the summer and a stay in the prison could not have been what dream vacations are made of.

The tower has been restored and is now a museum. The ocher colour of the centuries-old fort brings a soothing contrast in the all blue city.

Images: Jeanne-Aelia Desparmet-Hart, Sylvie pellet

The ocean-side city of Asilah

Asilah is a fishing port and seaside resort about 50 kilometres from Tangier. It boasts an historic medina within fortified walls. 

For a small city, Asilah has quite a past:

The Phoenicians used it as a base for trade in 1500 BC. The romans came along for a while and the Portuguese conquered it in 1471, then abandoned it for economical reasons. It was taken by the Moroccans a hundred years later and was used as a base for pirates in the 19th century. From 1912 to 1956 when Morocco became independent, it was under Spanish "protectorate". 

The old city, known as a medina, underwent major renovations in 1978 and it is now in pristine condition.

The medina is surrounded by ramparts and is a car-free zone. In winter the town is almost empty, yet far from feeling abandoned, it looks serene and reclusive in a lovely way.

These photos taken in early Spring demonstrate the peaceful atmosphere of the town in the off-season. All you hear are the sound of the waves crashing on the shore and the occasional call to prayer.

A young man walks gingerly down one of the alleys of the medina with a tray of bread dough balanced on his head. Few people have ovens of their own and the women knead bread daily at home, then take it to small commercial ovens to be baked and retrieve it when it's done.

A mother walks her small child home. I imagine them chatting about this and that, mother adapting her gait to her tot's tiny steps the way a mother and child do anywhere in the world.

Neighbours exchange opinions at the foot of the ancient Portuguese-era tower on the main square. The tower and the ramparts were built at the beginning of the 15th century and are still in excellent condition six centuries later.

The city is on the Atlantic Ocean seen here from the Mirage Hotel half way to Asilah from Tangier. The beach is almost deserted but there are big plans for the construction of major resorts and hotels all along the coast as was done on the mediterranean coast of Morocco. What a transformation that will be.

When the mural-painting festival rolls around in the spring, artists arrive from every part of Morocco to paint the walls and the city fills up with tourists eager to see what marvels the walls of Asilah will bear. (see a previous post: The painted walls of Morocco)

The layout...

The result: stunning!

The murals stay there until they are painted over by other artists the following year.

Images: Joelle Desparmet, Upgulf, pinterest

Colours and patterns of Morocco (pink Marrakech)

In Morocco, the predominant colour of a city is its signature: Tangier is a white city because most houses are painted with lye. Chefchaouen, the blue city, is painted with a mixture of indigo and lye in water; Fez is mostly ocher coloured and Marrakesh is orangy pink because the reddish clay found in that area is mixed with straw to make pisé, a sort of adobe used in outer walls of houses and in the making of bricks. 

That may be why many buildings are painted in reddish pink even when not made of pisé.

A striped rosy wall, a painter's interpretation of the horizontal rows of dark brick/light mortar walls typical of the Marrakech area.

A pale celadon door in a soft pink wall that has seen better days.

Pink facades along a narrow alley in the medina.

A beige pink softens the starkness of a dead-end.

A medieval looking workshop front in faded pink in the medina.

A downward view into a tiled Riad housing the Museum of Photography .

The pastel minaret from the upper terrace of Riad Awa, a lovely guest house on the edge of the medina where we stay when in Marrakech.

Images: Joelle Desparmet, Pinterest

The old splendour of Tangier

The cities of Morocco are studies in architecture: the old and the new, the contemporary and the ancient, the purely moor and the colonial French or Spanish. Tangier is no different.
In some neighbourhoods of Tangier one is transported to Nice, Madrid or Paris. These old buildings date from the beginning of the 20th century. Some are occupied and well maintained, others are weatherbeaten and in need of some renovation, others still are abandoned. They were left behind by families who had been established in Tangier for generations and who left in the 40's and 50's.

It is said that some abandoned houses belonged to jewish families who went away thinking they might return and just locked the door behind them. They never came back and left behind lovely houses which cannot be sold as there is no owner to sell them. I would love to get my hands on this one and restore it to its original beauty. I can just imagine lounging on the upper terrace staring at the fabulous spectacle of the sun setting on the glittering sea.

A cement-blocked door in a gabled entryway, the lonely remnant of what was once someone's home.

A lovely metal grate garage door reminiscent of the 1950's "modernisation" of Tangier .

Some buildings are maintained somewhat and hark back to a time when Tangier was an international hub of hip culture, intrigue and carefree living sought out by westerners in search of adventure and thrills of all sorts.

Some buildings have been extensively restored. Villa Léon l'Africain was recently refurbished by Pierre Bergé, Yves Saint Laurent's long time partner.

In this before photo, the facade had intricate moulding and was painted in bright yellow...

...a front porch with elegant columns was added and the sunny colour softened.

Villa Léon l'Africain is a typical colonial house built in 1910 and was the home of Richard Timwell from 1967 when he retired from his work at Sotheby's. The grounds were freshened by a well known landscaper and boast many rare tropical plants and palm trees a reminder of Pierre Bergé's influence on the design of the gardens of Villa Majorelle in Marrakech.

Images: Jeanne-Aelia Desparmet-Hart, Joelle Desparmet and unknown

Random Colours and patterns of Morocco (Tangier)

Colours are present at every corner in Morocco. The simplest event is turned into an art exhibition or a poetic vignette by the association of soft or bright hues drawn from nature and everyday objects.

Touches of peach contrast with the greys of the intricate carved plaster work on the ceiling of the grand El Minzah Hotel in Tangier.

Soft pastels at the modest, quirky and so charming Chez Abdou beachside restaurant near Tangier.

Harmonious assortment of brights and lights of hand-knit wool caps at a weavers' shop at foundouk Chejra in the medina of Tangier.

The geometric design of reed parasols at L'Océan  Beach Club on the Atlantic Ocean near Tangier.

Similar colours and patterns on a Moroccan rug and a South African straw bowl in the living room.

                               Matching table cover and olives mounds at an outdoor village market in the north of Morocco.

The simple beauty of the blooms of a plumbago capensis climbing a blue facade.

Images: Joelle Desparmet

Random Colours and Patterns of Morocco (Marrakech)

The colours and patterns of Morocco are an unending source of awe. From the spectacular mosques, riads and palaces to the most modest shop front or everyday objects, everything is painted, carved or sculpted in a range of soft pastels and minimalist motifs to ultra bright tones and intricate patterns and everything in between.

The side of the minaret of this small mosque in the medina of Marrakech is an example of a beautiful mix of colours, carving and shapes. 

And as always the amazing depth of the Moroccan summer sky.

A similar soft palette on the entrance of a government building.

Shelves have received a coat of primary colours and await their final painted design in a shop in the medina.

The train station in Marrakesh boasts striking patterned granit floors (my toes decided to sneak into the photo)....

...perfectly geometric tile work on columns ...

...and the delicate calligraphy of these zellij tiles on the walls.

The breathtaking wrought iron and glass front entrance of the train station.

Images: Joelle Desparmet