I named it the Atlas Pavilion because it has a beautiful view of the snowy Atlas Mountains at 6 months a year. But I think the interiors are memorable, too. I decorated the main salon with it's 22+ foot pyramid dome roof and catwalk with lots of color, using carpets, cushions and poufs with liberal abandon. I carried each of the lanterns back from Egypt.
I conjure up a lot of table settings at Peacock Pavilions in Marrakech and they don't have too much in common with the ones I see in Crate & Barrel catalogues. Rather, they tend to follow my own brand of ethnic chic, which often involves goods procured in foreign lands mixed with wild abandon.
Here the flowers from my own rose garden. {These roses smell sublime.} My vases: glass Spanish mineral water bottles.
Add in a very long length of nomadic handmade, hand dyed fabric (which is actually Mauritanian dress, worn a bit like a sari). Indian dagmar votives.
Place on top, hand carved lacy placemats/chargers from Indonesia. Custom embroidered peacock feather napkins.
More pattern? No problem. Bench cushions covered in the embroidery of the Moroccan city of Fez pattern.
Repeat in multiples, bien sur.
Setting: Arabian dining tent at Peacock Pavilions.
If possible, add in guests traveling from Tokyo, France, Brazil and the US.
When are you coming?
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PS Amy, this post is for you. Thank you for the good juju you bring. xo
I'm an accidental stylist. A curator of odd and curious things from odd and curious places. I've amassed them, I've grouped them, I've arranged them. None of them "goes with" anything else and yet, they're all together somehow. I like surprising combinations.
Here's more of Peacock Pavilions, our quirky boutique hotel in Marrakech. I hope you like it. I made it up as I went along, and we built it from scratch with love:-)
Enormous horseshoe Moroccan door (This shape is thought to have protective powers.), vintage molded plastic chair from Morocco's hippie days, Egyptian pin prick lanterns, vintage Australian tram roll, patchwork flatweave carpet with bits from Turkey and Iran. Salon, Atlas Pavilion.
Rabat embroidery Moroccan pillows, wall designed to spec by Melanie Royals and the Peacock Painters, vintage Yemeni nomadic lanterns.
Antique Moroccan handpainted muqarna with original gold leaf, vintage Persian tassels, chair from the Paris flea market. Medina Pavilion dining room.
Outdoor alcove entry to guestroom, covered in bougainvillea.
Red vintage Persian carpet, old French Arab poster, vintage red Moroccan burnoose from the Atlas Mountains, handcarved old Moroccan coffee table, Moroccan stenciled fireplace, old amazonite Moroccan bowl from Tamgroute, assemblage vintage chandelier hanging from the dome, old Peacock cigarette sign found on ebay. Salon in Medina Pavilion.
Perhaps come and see for yourself? Learn more right here.
Images by fab Peacock Pavilions intern, Katie O'Shaughnessy
Here’s the thing: I could try to woo you, I could try to tell you that it’s perfect, that it’s exactly as I would have wished. I could tell you that I saw it all in my head, that it was part of some grand master plan and that – clever, clever girl that I am – I went out and made it all happen. I could tell you that I shopped until I dropped, that I bought everything I wanted, that I paid no attention to the kaching at the cash register.
But I would be lying.
Because you see, there are no financiers, no backers, no investors at Peacock Pavilions. There’s just a family in an olive grove in Marrakech, which looks at its bank balance every single month and sees what it can do. And so it was that there were things --- many --- that I couldn’t have. Yes, there was pining and there was longing and there was pleading with one's husband to please reconsider. But, for the most part (except for a few shining moments, where caution was thrown to the wind) common sense prevailed. Compromises – Oh, many – were made.
But here’s the other thing, Peacock Pavilions………..well, it’s a story in objects. A story of a family who took a risk, who made a gamble, who was determined to live a life that wasn’t so typical, even if it took them miles from anything that they had ever known. And so it was, so it is, that Peacock Pavilions is a blue print for this journey. A blue print of every place we’ve ever lived, every trip we’ve ever loved, every assignment we've ever been on. Whether that’s Nepal or Namibia or Afghanistan or Iraq or Mali or Thailand or Guatamala……….it’s all there……at Peacock Pavilions.
I know you’re far away. I know we’ve never met. But please………let me show you ---at least a little -- my world that is Peacock Pavilions.
Vintage handpainted Moroccan Glaoui ceiling, glass Egyptian mosque lanterns, 200 year old Persian painting. Dining Room, Medina Pavilion, Peacock Pavilions.
Handmade hooks that I designed myself for Peacock Pavilions. Hand embroidered towels.
Handpainted Moroccan vase. Bougainvillea from the Peacock Pavilions boutique hotel garden. Room of the Sufi Seamstress, Medina Pavilion.
Old ikat from Indonesia, vintage Moroccan wedding blanket cushions, turn of the century original French poster, 100 year old temple painting from Thailand (a gift from my father). Room of the Visual Voyager, Medina Pavilion.
Mirrored console (we made it in the room!), custom sculpture by talented Caroline Douglas, vintage peacock chair, photograph of beautiful Berber girl. Room of the Moorish Muse, Medina Pavilion.
Welcome Packet on a vintage Moroccan tray, antique betal leaf box from Bangladesh.
Oh, perhaps you'll come to our boutique hotel, Peacock Pavilions in Marrakech and see for yourself? The virutal world is amazing. Real life is even better.............
All images by Katie O'Shaugnessy.
