HOT IN THE CITY

Marrakech's warm colours, along with the talents of its traditional artisans, have brought fresh inspiration to one Belgian designer's home

- Fleur Britten

Belgium is rather renowned for its design DNA; one that is dark, intellectual and somewhat serious – just think of its famed fashion alumni, such as Martin Margiela and Ann Demeulemeester. But when the Belgian fashion-turned-homeware designer Laurence Leenaert moved to Marrakech 10 years ago, those quiet, sober sensibilities were thrown out the window. ‘I used to be much safer in my design choices,’ she explains. ‘Everything was much cleaner, much neater – now I'm more spontaneous; there’s more colour. I really opened up here.’

That design pivot is evident in the interiors of her family home, where her key influences were the Moroccan sun and its warmth. ‘I wanted to have fun and show a summer-holiday vibe with bright colours – it feels like a happy place here,’ she says. Her colour palette – both in her work and her home – is now based on Morocco’s pink terracotta. ‘I wouldn’t be into the colour if I were still in Belgium,’ she says. ‘But I see it now as a neutral – it’s been my main colour for the last 10 years.’