I Love Lamp: Moroccan Trip

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This week I've been doing some translation work for that documentary that took me to Morocco this past spring. It's been so satisfying to watch it come to life and become a real movie.  So, naturally, Morocco has been on my mind, and that's why this Friday's I Love Lamp post is all photos I took on that trip of some of my favorite Moroccan design elements.

#1: I am a whitewash freak and I love that Moroccans are too. I love how clean and simple it is. It's a real staple of village decor. (Is that weird thing to say? Village decor?) I WANT TO WHITEWASH EVERYTHING.

#2: Rooftop terraces where you can sip some tea and listen to the sunset call to prayer ring about the sky.

#3: I love me some Moroccan textiles. Especially when used against plain white (whitewash!) or a striking blue.

#4: The dappled light of handmade lanterns. Serene. Sexy.

#5: Tiles! The intricate, hand-chiseled mosaics below are called zelij. LOVE 'em. They're so trippy and bold. That said, I also adore the more simple, French country-style tiles that made it to Morocco via colonization like the black and white ones pictured after the zelij.

#6: Blue doors. I find them welcoming but apparently they're not to everyone-- they are painted that color to ward off evil.

#7: Crazy old riads just waiting for a little love. This abandoned place is next to my host-family's apartment. I've been eyeing it since 2004.

Sometimes, when I can't fall asleep at night, I imagine how I would restore it. And when I say imagine, I mean, I'm placing where the goddamn electric outlets will go. I have mentally designed EVERY CORNER OF IT.

The neighbors have told me that once upon a time it was a really grand "two door, four woman" house, meaning the guy who owned it was rich enough to have four wives and a separate servants' entrance. BALLER. I'm gonna have a lot to live up to.

(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)