Turning one's home into a souk... or not.

When we moved to Marrakech I firmly believed that we would be returning to Europe positively laden down with purchases from Morocco. We wanted a carpet (at least one), several lamps, ridiculous quantites of leather goods, carved cedar things, pottery, jewellery... goodness we wanted a lot. Now, not so much. We have indeed bought a couple of the things above - we each got leather hold-alls, four leather poufs (I'll do a leather post some other time) but, well, that's it really. I know what I want my future home to look like, and Marrakech market isn't really it. I get the impression that this is an epiphany that strikes most expats here after their first... ooh.... week or so.

However. This does not mean that I must therefore turn my nose up at the sort of things one can buy here - not by any means at all. In addition to the leather goods I mentioned, Moroccan embroidery is fantastic. I think I posted here before on the embroidered bedspreads at Beldi (and indeed, one may make its way into my possession before we leave Marrakech) but the beautiful cushions above (with a matching huge pouf, not pictured because it isn't stuffed, so you're just going to have to trust me - it's divine) came from Darkhoum, which I have mentioned before. The owner is still as grumpy as ever, but his furniture and textiles are still beautiful. This fabulous black and white embroidery is from Rabat.