Villa 5 was finished, so it was time to dress it up and fire the imagination a little. It can be difficult to envisage an empty house with the benefit of warmth and furnishings. We wanted to capture some images that would nudge that imagination into working and bring the villa alive.

In order to achieve this we brought on board renowned British photographer, Suzanne Porter, who is based in Marrakech, and her prefered local stylist Cassie Karinsky, whose fantastic eye for detail and style is highly valued by Suzanne, and therefore us.

The local businesses of Marrakech were absolutely amazing and helped us enormously by lending their precious products and creations especially for the shoot. I cannot say a big enough THANK YOU to them all!

Our first stop was to source the rugs we would need. Brothers Soufiane and Smile have a veritable priceless stock of beautiful rugs and mats sourced from moroccan artisans and those farther afield. This was the stunning Beni Ourain rug that we chose for the bedroom shot, and you can just see the equally beautiful Mauritanian mat that it is sitting on, that eventually graced the floor of the living room.

Soufiane and Smile were also kind enough to lend us the sequined Handira (Berber wedding blankets) that were used on the roof terrace and the Koran tablets used on the bedside table. Leather designer and manufacturer, Youssef Bennani, lent us the gorgeous leather poufs – one of which i have since bought because i loved it so much!

The beautiful handmade fabrics used on the bed, the roof terrace and some of the cushions were supplied by Florence Teillet. For anyone interested in unique, quality textiles, Florence’s showroom in Sidi Ghanem will definitely have you captivated. All are made in Morocco to Florence’s designs and are used in some of the chicest of Marrekch riads.

Another local textile designer, Marion Verdier, owner of Atelier Nihal, supplied us with countless fabulous cushions (my favourite being the orange and silver!). Marion’s products are bespoke and are again designed and produced here in Morocco.

Mustapha Blaoui is famous in Marrakech for his incredible stock of Moroccan products and furniture and he was magnanimous to let us run wild and raid his treasure trove for lanterns, mirrors, candelabras, bedside cabinets, and other useful items

The well-known home decor boutique, Scenes de Lin, (in Gueliz, Marrakech), came up trumps with beautiful bed linen, towels and bathroom products. We were spoilt for choice and coveted most of the shop’s stock!

And last, but by no means least, my thanks to Lara Cleminson who kindly allowed us to sneak into her Riad, Dar Missiana, early one morning, and load a selection of furniture onto hand-pulled cart, to be spirited away to Ouirgane for the weekend.

Thank you again. All of you. For bringing our villa alive.

Contact details:

Suzanne Porter, Photographer:  www.suzanneporter.com / info@suzanneporter.com

Cassie Karinsky, Stylist:  cassiek00@hotmail.com / +212 (0) 663 775 690

Soufiane & Smile, Carpets:  zarib_mohid@hotmail.com

Florence Teillet, Handmade textiles:  atwlflo@yahoo.fr / +212 (0) 661 225 905

Atlelier Nihal, Handmade textiles:  atelier.nihal@hotmail.fr / +212 (0) 671 160 162

Mustapha Blaoui, Moroccan home products:  +212 (0) 524 385 240 / Arset Aouzale         No.142, Bab Doukkala, Marrakech Medina

Scenes de Lin, Home decor:  www.scenes-de-lin.com

Youssef Bennani, Leather designer:  bennani21@hotmail.com / +212 (0) 661 666 324

Lara Cleminson, Dar Missiana & Koubba (Events):  www.koubba.com

Related posts:

1. Villa 5…all dressed up
2. La Bergerie
3. The first villa is (almost) complete…