Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/1507768
Nobu has just opened a 7 1-room proper t y in Marrakech, while another stalwart of that cit y, the Royal Mansour, has just debuted in Casablanca, commandeering the former Le Meridien for an intensive makeover to emerge as the capital cit y's first true five-star proper t y. Fairmont added another Morocco location late last year, in this case, close to Conran in Tangier. And there's more to come: the Four Seasons will open a coastal resort later this year in Rabat, on the site of a former military hospital. The buzz around Morocco is in part down to a pop culture punch, according to Gail Leonard, an expat Brit who runs the events and sourc- ing firm Loune Concepts (Loune means "color" in Darija, Morocco's Arabic dialect). "Every interiors magazine you pick up for the past few years, there's been a Moroccan rug," she laughs, before noting the impact of star power like Idris Elba, who married his long time girlfriend in Marrakech four years ago. Both Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford have spent time in Morocco recently—to respectively film Spectre and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. "The media, fashion, and design worlds— they're all get ting in on it ." Leonard adds that the reason that the LGBTQIA community has always felt so at home in this Muslim country is that its cultural influences include those of the Amazigh (formerly known as Berber), a centuries-old, nomadic Nor th African culture. "They have hospitality in their genes, and really embrace everybody. From the ground up, people are made to feel welcome." Certainly, that's how Simone Mérette-Jara felt when she arrived in Marrakech in January. The 33-year-old Montreal native, a well-known sommelier and mixologist, came to Morocco to help establish an ambi- tious farm-to-table enterprise. She instantly felt the same openness and acceptance that first at tracted Saint Laurent and his cohor ts in the 1970s, including a par ticular infusion of younger folks like herself, rather than retirees keen to use Morocco as a place for VIP R&R in their golden years. "There's this hype, this energ y, right now, and it's more and more vibrant, whether it's museums, architecture, music, food, or nightlife," she says of her new home; indeed, Mérette-Jara was so con- vinced of the viability of life here she bought a one-way ticket. Now, she's managing an American-accented bakery, Blue Ribbon, the f irst opening in the complex she, Aziz Na ha s, and Benjamin Pastor—her partners at the Napa Hospitality Group—have planned. It will be followed later this year by a wine bar run by Mérette-Jara and, FROM LEFT Olinto, a new retreat in the Atlas Mountains; poolside cabanas at Royal Mansour, Marrakech O L I N TO : P H OTO BY E B O N Y S I OV H A N; R OYA L M A N S O U R : P H OTO BY I S A AC I C H O U 214 BAL HARBOUR