Moroccan style. Eastern fairy tale in the interior

The Gibraltar strait of the Mediterranean Sea separates the territory of modern Morocco from the southern European countries. It was the closeness to Europe that determined such an unusual and diverse culture of this North African state, which throughout its long history was subjected to the invasion of various tribes and peoples of both Christian and Muslim faith. Thanks to Arab tribes practicing Islam, caravan routes from India to the Mediterranean stretched across Morocco, which blended many oriental cultures, united peoples, creating a single cultural space. The repeated invasions of the Spaniards and the Portuguese, and later in the nineteenth century, the colonization of these lands by the English, French, German, Italian and Spanish people contributed to the development and expansion of the cultural framework, bringing pan-European influences into the Arab-Muslim traditions. The French and the Spaniards, who captured the largest number of lands, were quite careful about the national and cultural traditions of this African state. Making a definite contribution to the development of industry, education and trade, the French colonialists tried to preserve the distinctive bright style of the east. The new houses and quarters, which were built by French architects in Morocco, carefully and skilfully combined various style trends, preserving the unique eastern beauty.

Moroccan style, like a collection of ancient Arabian tales, absorbed many fantastic stories, seemingly incompatible with each other. Antiquity here successfully coexists with more modern themes, and international traditions create a dense, multicolored, very lively and dynamic artistic structure, like the subtlest Arab ligature narrating about the complex history of the development of this culture.

In modern interiors, the Spanish-Moorish or Andalusian style is most often used - this is one of the trends of the Moroccan style in design and architecture. The main thing here is the ability to improvise and create bold combinations of textures, materials and colors.

Moroccan style. Colouristics

Perhaps the most difficult thing in creating any interior is its harmonious color solution, which corresponds not only to the general style direction, but also to the tastes and mood of the owners of the apartment. Moroccan style - a combination of warm and cool contrasting colors and shades, creating a vibration, impulsiveness and movement. The warm colors of the desert, ripe fruits and spices (ocher, terracotta, golden sand, chocolate brown, vanilla and white) with bright blue, ultramarine, emerald green and black are successfully combined here, and rich red and deep are used as bright accents purple.

Walls and ceiling

Modern interior in the Moroccan style assumes exquisite decoration of walls and ceiling. Typically, the color of the walls is chosen warm, imitating the traditional plaster "tadelakt", which can be successfully replaced with modern finishing materials, for example, Venetian plaster or structural wallpaper.

Very characteristic for this style - a combination of monotonous color walls with a white or bright contrast carved multi-level frieze under the ceiling, consisting of plaster moldings and mosaic ornamentation, or bright ornamental inserts in arched niches on a monochrome wall. By the way, such inserts of gypsum or metal forging are expensive, but they can easily be replaced with braided rope panels using a crochet hook or in the "macrame" technique. In the niche prepared in the wall a woven figured net is stretched with the help of a special frame, it can be illuminated with lamps made of colored glass, decorated with bronze bells, large rhinestones and decorative stones.

Very often the Moroccan style uses a small ceramic mosaic, which adorns a part of the wall or is fully laid out a low panel. Colored mosaic ornaments with a characteristic pattern adorn the countertops, stoves, fireplace portal or decorative fountain.

As for the ceiling, its finish depends on the height of the room and its general purpose. At high ceilings, use carved wooden elements, which are painted by hand. The wood in the modern interior can be replaced with gypsum or polyurethane (only non-foam) ceiling tiles, which are colored with colored paints, emphasizing the beauty of the relief ornament. Another option for finishing the ceiling is the beams, between which you can place wooden patterned gratings or simply lay across the beams thin rods of oleander or another southern wood, covered with white paint or lime.

Moroccan style. Finishing the floor

Of course, as a finishing material for the floor, use, first of all, ceramic tiles, mosaic, as well as decorative stone. You can replace them with linoleum with the corresponding pattern, but it's better to stop on the stone or ceramic and make the system a "warm floor".

Furniture, textiles and accessories

Interior in the Moroccan style is the use of interesting, extraordinary things, acquired in crafts or art workshops, as well as in the eastern bazaars. Furniture is obligatory carved, dark, almost black, hand painted or inlaid with mother of pearl, and also decorated with metal grilles. Carved massive chests with chased locks, bright mirrors of colored glass, numerous elegant ceramic jugs, as well as large bronze lanterns with colorful glass shades - all these are attributes of the Moroccan style. Very unusual, creative and modern will look in a small room hanging sofa, decorated with canopy, large rollers and numerous pillows.

A special place in such an interior is given to textiles. These are multilayered and multicolored curtains on windows and arched passages, these are lush rich canopies over a couch, sofa or bed, as well as a number of bright and refined embroidered pillows and thin, colored carpets covered with sofas, beds and floors.

Moroccan style in the interior is a luxury and elegance, brightness and refinement. This is necessarily a manual, delicate work, in which the ancient oriental traditions are combined with the imagination and innovation of the artist.