WE MOVED!

6 years of blogging, tweaking and loving EVERYTHING I learned with my blogger blog has come to an end!
Google taught me about HTML, CSS, layout, hiding and showing content ... It gave me all the insights I needed to create and start my life here in Morocco.
It's with a flair of nostalgia that I have been working this August month on my new blog and more importantly, my new platform.

Thank you, Google Blogspot for being such a wonderful companion along the way and hello Squarespace, I honestly hope we're going to become good friends too!

If you go to older posts, they will often look a little up and down as importing is not a 1,2,3 kinda thing. And 300 posts are not either a 1,2,3 kind of piece of cake.

You can find the new blog HERE

As for now, I'm off, taking a well deserved anti-desktop retreat ;) in...well, I can't stay away from WhatsApp so you will see.

Just one thing I want to add!!

We're nominated for the AMARA interior design awards! And we could use you VOTE!
We're the only African blog and we would deeply value your help in spreading the love for MOROCCAN HANDCRAFT.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

SUPPORT US HERE WITH YOUR VOTE 

AND EVEN BETTER!
If you send me a mail after you did, You're in for a FREE GIFT competition.

Enjoy what's left of summer dear friends and see you back here soon, Inshallah... 

STAY IN THE AIRBNB ROOM IN OUR HOUSE IN MARRAKECH

In this post, I will lift a tip of the veil from our Kasbah house. As the Airbnb room is ready, I thought it was time for some sharing!
Sometimes you need to move until you know you have found the right place. And most important, you need to give yourself time to do just that; finding a space that is perfect for you!

I love Essaouira, I know by now you get this picture ;). But business wise I needed to be more and more in Marrakech. Not in the countryside, which is adorable, but IN TOWN. Living in Belgium where you could easily cover a tour between 3 cities in one day, I never realized I was kind of a city girl!

A MEETING IN THE HAREM

Being invited to the Harem, not an everyday event I must say! But 'Yes, please' was my answer. After all, this was not the average harem we were talking about!
This particular harem was on my wishlist for years already...😐 and so I went an early morning, a morning that kept a promise of a hot hot day, to riad Kaiss. The former harem of Sultan Moulay Yacoub. The Sultan who himself had a nice little place, the Bahia Palace, neighbouring with his Collection of 'Favorit things to do', his harem

Marrakech souk - DO YOUR HOMEWORK before you start shopping.

Stories about people being ripped off while shopping in the souks! It happens...
The question is, how does it come this far and how come we let it happen to us!

In this article, I'll be looking into how to prepare for the souks. Before you come to Morocco and once you're here.
If there is one thing, that is more important than anything else when it comes to going shopping in the souks, it's this one: MAKE SURE IT FEELS LIKE FUN! (if it's not, then it's not a good deal)

SHOPPING IN MARRAKECH - a perspective on time

The most colourful carpet street in Essaouira by night

“What’s your name?” The Shop assistant asked her.
I could read her thoughts that this had nothing to do with her wanting to know the price of that pompon blanket.
It was a beautiful, wool and all black blanket with camel colour pompons. “I just want to know the price” she answered with some tension in her voice.
I was convinced the price would depend on how this conversation was going...

Let's look at the two perspectives, realising both are born from within our own cultural wiring.

[Arab]
we build a story and then we reveal a price. The price is the 'magical' and variable result of our interaction=[time]. 
[Western]
we have a planning and this item is one of them. We have no [time] for all this.

[advice]
Try to make some time for every deal when you come here! Realize that it's better to buy only some of the items you really want for a good price while having fun negotiating this price. Better than coming home all stressed out with a feeling you've been ripped off

[after all]
When was the last time your local shop assistant asked YOUR name? Don’t be surprised when you come back to Morocco one year later and they still remember you and welcome you as a good friend. “It’s all about these things in life “
Enjoy your day and...ask the person in your local supermarket today “what’s your name?” See what happens!

It's not that much about what you shop, it's the way how you shop it. Maybe this rule is more visible here, but a personal interaction and building relationships matter no matter where you are.

And what if you THINK you don't have time?

contact us!

We might change your mind ;)

More inspiration on

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SCORPIOS MYKONOS - Shop the style in Marrakech

Lamps to be found in the rattan area outside Marrakech about 30-50 Euro 

We love beautiful places that reflect a raw and unrefined beauty. Saturated with pure materials and old traditions in craftsmanship.

10 BASIC RULES TO CROSS THE SOUKS IN MOROCCO - intro

A cross cultural shopping experience can be much more...

Shopping in Morocco…
If it’s your first time in the Arabic culture, this might be …a nightmare?
I remember my first times, trying to get good deals on cement tiles that I would have to transport to Europe.

CRADLE CONCEPTS - for MARRAKECH TREND WEEK

Cradle concepts:
Tradition redesigned.
Local resources and techniques.
a conscious bridge between past and future.

H A N D W O R K = The new luxury

A HOME IN MARRAKECH

Looking for exclusive property in the Medina of Marrakech can be exciting. It can also leave you with a lot of questions. A lot of hidden problems and an ongoing rebuilding adventure for some years to come.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE rebuilding :)! But in case you don't share my enthusiasm on that topic, I have a real opportunity for you here!

ECO CHIC - The trend for balancing the speed of life

In our latest newsletter (which is going to go deeper into design trends in Marrakech and Africa, as of the next one) I quoted:

"Basic handcrafted tribal objects help us connect with and answer a need within us to simplify things without compromising on style and personality"....

The more hectic and borderless our lifes become, the more we seem to develop a need to create a living environment to balance all of this.

Handcrafted objects in natural colours and fibres.

Celebrating the revival of textiles with simple block prints and mud cloths, harmoniously mixed with hand knotted rugs.

Nothing is perfect and that might just be the connecting chain to each and everyone of us!
Creating our own wabi sabi interior allows us to embrace our own imperfections, the ones we errase with an app before we try to go viral.

Combining forms colours and materials to a warm, unpretentious environment that is unique, pure and imperfect at the same time is, when we look deep within, exactly how we want the world to see us...

Let's have a look.

all photos and more can be found and sourced at our pinterest board.