Writing again has brought back so much joy, and I must thank each of you who have been in touch after reading my previous piece of writing, the first in almost three years.
When I returned to Australia at the end of 2023, my sister, Sophie, was helping me update my website and it became patently clear that months had turned into years and as those years flew by, there went with them my desire to write. I had thought about writing all the time when I wasn’t, but life had taken a different direction and the ability to sit still and just ‘write’ had left me – hence came a gap on the website which I am now happily filling again.
When I walk down the street and smell chestnuts roasting on a brasier, or when I pass by the community kitchen around the corner from my flat, or a simple thing like going to the dry cleaners, or listening to the birds outside on satellite dishes chatting over over the BBC each morning, I think about writing – for those simple day to day snapshots are often the prettiest moments in life.
As I write, I’m just in the door from a trip to the cobbler around the corner from my flat. He’s about as tall as the counter he stands behind, his little glasses sit propped atop his nose and his ‘kufi’ (a prayer hat that muslim men wear) is always slightly sideways on his head. He say’s ‘Inshallah’ from the back of his throat and gives a wry smile when I point at the shoes he’s about to copy and the fabric he’ll make them with, asking “hada ou hadi?” In Arabic, hadi is ‘this’ feminine and hada ‘this’ masculine. I’m always calling shoe’s men when they are probably women, same with bananas, apples, grapes, cars – everything! Once we’d finished the shoe order and a brief Arabic lesson, I left feeling just the slightest bit excited about the velvet slippers he promises will be finished by Wednesday ‘Larabah, Insh- ALLAH’ (Wednesday, God Willing) he called out as the bell tinkled and I slipped out the door into the early evening air.
Since moving to Morocco almost six years ago, having everything made locally has become a real passion for me. I love sitting down with pen and paper and designing a new shirt or velvet dressing gown to wear out for dinner, or pyjama trousers fashioned from a favourite pair (of the bedtime variety) and then stitched from lengths of cotton into day ware. I drive Halima mad, spending hours at Casa Barata (the rather bonkers but useful flea market a short drive away) combing through rolls and rolls of cotton (and miles and miles of nylon) before delivering my daily catch to our most wonderful tailor, Simohamed, who delivers bags of new clothes back days later. Last week I found butterflies and beetles crawling over the blushiest pink cotton, and on Wednesday it will be delivered in the form of a shirt to wear over cream trousers fashioned out of the softest brushed cotton.
The art of making has given me a real sense of purpose here in Tangier – and the process of making is something I will always champion. From designing clothes and handwoven textiles and sourcing locally made artisan wares, to building itineraries for guests coming to visit this wonderful city; this all intertwines and makes perfect sense to me and is a large part of why I founded The Tangier Bureau. Whether it be a piece of clothing made by the tailor, a bedspread handwoven on a loom, visiting a garden beautifully planted, a house perfectly restored, it is the artisan hands of this country that allow a story to weave into my every day, and these stories and experiences are just too good not to share. Formalising all of this into a business has been both inspiring and organic in it’s formation – there is no formula, it’s just a matter of being being one step ahead and realising what it is that I love, and then being willing to share in my day to day.
And whilst I haven’t necessarily been writing about all of this, I have been living and learning, which is how this all came to be. Being present, rather than dreaming about what ‘could’ be. I am in awe of people who run a small business and also have an interesting online presence – I find it’s either one or the other and can only pray that one day I’ll be good at both.
On the website, the team consists of just me and ever trusty Halima, but in reality, our team is made up of many people who make wonderful things happen; some we are close to and deal with on a daily basis, others are in the background but equally as important to all that we set out to achieve.
The passion I feel sharing my life with people – whether it be a group of two or twenty two- putting together bespoke itineraries and idea’s for a visit based on what each individual or group desires, has morphed from ‘every day life’ to a way of life.
A peep over the wall at the straw market into a makeshift barn (on a never-ending hunt for another basket or piece of furniture), home to a sheep and ram as their owner weaves baskets on a stool nearby; a trip to the fabric hall at Casa Barata followed by a street sandwich and an appointment with our tailor; a drive along the Atlantic coast for fresh fish and a glass of wine by the sea; the clunking of the looms as our weavers make meterage of fabric based on drawings I’ve designed for individual or wholesale orders (weaving still remains such an integral part of what I do); the door to a beautiful private garden drawn open wide, greeted by a smiling Moroccan face, and the carefully considered layout of private houses and interesting spaces and people – all of these things have naturally woven their way into a playbook that has formed my reason for being here.
When I reflect on the past twelve months in particular, and look at the way that things have evolved over those months and the years that led into those months, there are memories of happiness, sadness and some times of particular frustration. Most importantly, life continued to go along and the world continued to spin on its axis as I grew my capacity through exploration and finding my way to where I am now. Groups of people large and small are now joining me in Tangier to explore the often magical and sometimes mundane of my everyday, not afraid to traipse through straw and kittens (for example) as they too explore in the beauty and snippets around each corner, making their visit that little bit more special and personal.
We opened 2023 with a visit from the Mediterranean Garden Society (of which I’m a member), and closed the year with a visit from the Garden Museum – and in the months in between, hosted a whole manner of design, garden and travel enthusiasts eager to learn more about this beautiful city. By mid 2023, the direction this business was going to take was clear, and formalising all that I had been doing for the past several years, seemed the right thing to do.
While I can’t profess to be even a slight green thumb, I do find great solace in time spent with people who understand plants and planting (thank you, Mum), as well as the nuance and creative elements I delight in finding when I have the opportunity to share special places – houses and gardens are a wonderful way to understand the individuals who imagine them – both the custodians of those places and the hands who work the earth, build the walls and sustain the spaces.
In Tangier, it’s not just about what might be found behind the walls and doors of private houses and gardens found on the pages of magazines and coffee table books – but also a willingness to explore the many elements of the way that this Mediterranean city at the northern most tip of North Africa actually works. Understanding what makes the city tick, as we race down rabbit warrens, seeing it all through a lens that becomes clearer and clearer with each and every day I spend in this city that has become a home away from home.
A day in the life so to speak – there is no formula, each trip is bespoke and as I reply to emails, fill the calendar and cobble together idea’s for each individual need, magic begins to happen, and 2024 is already full to the brim with many amazing months ahead alongside people who I both know and don’t know. Some are return clients and friends I’ve worked with many times before, others are new (and old) friends who are visiting for the first time.
And sooner rather than later I’ll be walking the streets of Tangier, discovering new things and new words, in brand new velvet slippers. Next week, I think I’ll revisit the cobbler with yellow canvas fabric the colour of fondly remembered Indian sunsets.
In closing, and as I continue to discover (something that brings so much joy to my life) – in these parts, anything is possible and beauty can be found in a whole manner of the simplest of things.
The Tangier Bureau was established in 2023 covering everything bespoke – from travel, design, events, property and lifestyle.