Inside the New Cosy Rooms at El Fenn

 

Our new-look cosy rooms are a masterclass in playful scale, colourful art and richly layered craft – proving that small really is beautiful. Here we take a tour of these newly refurbished spaces

 

Just like so many things at El Fenn, it started with art and colour when our creative director Yann Dobry began to imagine new schemes for the cosy rooms in Vanessa’s riad. 

 

 

Once all part of a house entirely separate from El Fenn, they were connected to the main building when an adjoining plot was bought and turned into the Colonel’s House five years ago. Now Vanessa’s riad is home to four cosy rooms which have all just been given a new look that interweaves experiments in scale, arresting artworks and design influences spanning North Africa and the Middle East. 

 

‘I wanted to create a kind of tension in these rooms because they are among our smaller spaces,’ says Yann. ‘And I very intentionally wanted to amplify that feeling by adding oversized art, as well as large headboards and upholstered pieces.

 

‘People often think they have to shrink everything to fit smaller spaces and that’s a mistake. By exaggerating all the proportions in these snugger spaces, they are made to feel every bit as luxurious, elegant and dramatic as our larger rooms and suites.’ 

 

At the heart of each room sits a colour palette that often ties into the artwork hung in the space. 

 

 

In a first floor room for instance, a painting by Sir Terry Frost, a huge graphic piece saturated in red, orange and yellow, forms the focus of both the oversized scale as well as the room’s colour scheme threaded through textiles and into upholstery. Elsewhere, pieces by Abdemalik Berhiss and Ali Maimoun are also reflected in the surrounding schemes.

 

But as he was putting them together, Yann also created a character who might inhabit the spaces: a merchant who had travelled the world from the Silk Road to Marrakech, trading spices, textiles and traditional decorative objects with fellow merchants. 

 

Accessories such as a custom lamp created from a large ceramic pot from Fez, hand-painted shades, traditional pottery water canteens and experimental pieces made in Safi are intermingled with elements from elsewhere across the globe including large chandeliers and vintage side tables from Syria.

 

 

‘I wanted rooms to feel as if they had been lived in by a merchant collector because it’s a fascinating aspect of Marrakech’s past,’ says Yann. ‘For centuries, the city was a meeting place for traders who journeyed from Africa to the south, and Europe to the north.

 

‘I thought about the nights they would have gathered together in the foundouks, the stories they would have shared, and the intermingling of cultures from across Africa, Asia, India and the Middle East. And then I created a character who might live in rooms like this – surrounded by pieces they had collected on their travels.’

 

 

On the ground floor, a room overlooking the courtyard garden, where huge hand-carved tadelakt pots stand like sentinels around the plunge pool, is decorated with richly floral textiles with a Seventies vibe that are layered with everything from a Syrian pot customised into lamp, to vintage Egyptian shelving. Inlaid Syrian tables are a regular feature, as well as striking hand-woven Moroccan rugs. Classic elements of El Fenn’s time-clashing signature style remain courtesy of two chrome vintage 70’s side lights in one room, contemporary ceramics by We Are Roxas in another.

 

‘It’s a constant mix of old and new,’ says Yann. ‘Because for me, building the style of El Fenn rooms is like someone visiting Marrakech who goes into the medina with nothing specific in mind but comes home with a vivid mix of things.

 

‘I work on instinct, buying from many different places, and somehow all of it suddenly comes together.’

 

The merchant has unpacked. The lamps are lit, the art is hung, and Vanessa’s riad is ready for guests. Explore dates for our Cosy Rooms and book your stay in the heart of the medina.