We had the fabulous Tory Burch and her team along with the lovely Maryam of My Marrakesh in the Zid Zid showroom over the weekend (I was so nervous, can you tell in my picture? I think I forgot to smile…!) Thank you Tory and Maryam for coming by, was great having you and all the great energy you brought with you!
This gorgeous illustration just happened to fall out of a vintage book I had purchased from the Marrakech Flea Market. On one side, a calling frog, on the other, animals all running up a hill. I love the North African/African flair of the setting. I’ve been forever curious as to what book they are from, just who might be the illustrator and why was this picture cut from the book in the first place…. This alone makes the illustrations much more interesting/intriguing to me. Do you find them charming too?
Happy Friday and Happy June 1st! We love spending time with our neighbors, the caravan of camels in the Marrakech Palmerie. We talk with them, feed them carrots from our pockets and if lucky enough, get to help feeding them when their dinner shows up - here a big cart of spikey wild celery was their dinner this day. The newborn camels are so soft and so friendly, like very big, shy puppies. This one was born in the spring and her name is Chi-Chi. Our kids love these camels and I always go home wondering how I can bring one of them with me……
We’ve been privately sourcing carpets as of late and we have a set of gorgeous Boucherouiate carpets that have come from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco (about an hour south of Marrakech). These carpets are hand woven by women using all recycled fabrics. Each carpet has its own heavily geometric pattern. This amazing combination allows for each carpet to tell a very interesting tale. We can’t get enough of their unique personality and bursts of wild color. Because of their size (not too big and not too small) and their durability, they are a perfect splash of color for busier rooms in the house, especially for playrooms. We have our own fair share that I absolutely adore. Should something catch your eye from this selection above, give us a shout at julie at zidzid dot com.
Spent a terrific morning at a ceremony for the English majors from Cadi Ayyad University who were honored for their internship participation in the 4th Marrakech Biennale. Festival founder Vanessa Branson was there to congratulate the 42 interns who gave their time along with British Council Director Martin Rose who handed out diplomas for their efforts. What makes the Marrakech Biennale so special is Vanessa’s commitment to education and to making this festival accessible to all, especially Moroccans. Bravo to all the interns who served as the cultural ambassadors to the artists and the international visitors during the Biennale! The interns really made the festival a huge success and us here at Zid Zid enjoyed working with our intern Oumayma during our collaborative Art Workshops. We have entered into planning for the Marrakech Biennale 5 already and the next edition is going to be amazing! Spring 2015…..
We had a super short time in Tanger, about 36 hours worth. We tried to squeeze in a few good moments with our best friends with whom we stayed with. The girls couldn’t get enough of each other and there was just too much playing to be had under the gorgeous skies of Tanger. But depart we did, making a happy return to our favorite Sahara kissed town taking the cool blue breezes of Tanger with us….
Will download this week along with Funny Girl and of course Lawrence of Arabia so Noor can understand what all the hype is about!
Whenever I travel the first thing I try to do is visit the fresh markets. It’s here where I learn so much about a culture, the people, the customs, the flavors…The Marche Central (Market) in Tanger is no disappointment. Fresh everything from bread to fresh ricotta cheese made by the ladies from the Rif Mountains (shown in vintage postcard above), to olives, fresh meat, to flowers to fruits + veggies and more….
It’s a difficult place to take pictures, so I refrain quite a bit since people are not welcome to the idea. I love listening to the accents of the Tangerinos; Arabic with a slang (to my Marrakech ears!), Spanish and French, all thrown in together beautifully. If ever in Tanger, make sure to stop in and pick up as many local flavors as possible.
Gorgeous slide show on Nowness of Marrakech’s Glitterati; shot by socialite Christine Alaoui, inspiring shots of Yves Saint Laurent, Grace Jones, Bill Willis and more….
Good morning Monday! Hope everyone has a great week. A vintage Arabic children’s book found in Yto’s studio (an African story of a bird).
A beautifully illustrated bilingual children’s book (I am assuming it was created for children) from 1940’s France which illustrates the wool process in Morocco. Again, not much in Morocco has changed, thankfully this entire process is alive and well today. This gorgeous book was lucky to find a home on good friend Yto’s bookshelves after she discovered it at the Salon du Livre Tanger. A gorgeous book! I love the page of tools…
With the Marrakech heats being well over in the 100’s this past week, the sounds of King Sunny Ade & His African Beats seem perfectly suited for the occasion, like this track Penkele from 1983 (+ this awesome album cover was found here). Coolness blows in as the music plays on……
I found this gorgeous, simple cookbook, Moorish Recipes, by John, Fourth Marquis of Bute, K.T., published 1954 in my Tanger friend Yto’s amazing book stacks. I was surprised/not so surprised that this collection of Moroccan recipes found in this book have really maintained their traditions. Moroccan cooking is still the same after all these years. I love he added Arabic text along with phonetic names of the recipes. This post is for my dear friend and chef extraordinaire Peggy Markel.
