Zid Zid Love

I left the September Cookie magazine out in last week's rain. I could have bought another I suppose, but instead I waited six days for it to dry out. Does that make me incredibly cheap or just thrifty? So that explains why the photos below are all warped and wavy: the magazine has swollen to three times its original size and the pages are welded together, requiring me to patiently and gently pry them apart so as not to rip any of them. But still, I wanted to share:

I've gushed about Zid Zid Kids before, but I just cannot help myself. Something about Julie Klear and Moulay Essakalli (husband and wife owner/designers) has captured my fancy. I just love everything they do. The colours and fabrics. The simple, childlike forms that are totally sophisticated at the same time. Those big silver poufs make me want to chuck my boring living room chair out the window so we can loll around on these instead. Their whole take on how children play, informed no doubt by how they live and where they live - Marrakech - is genius. Like the children's table that is low to the ground and comes with small floor cushions instead of chairs. I love them. And now thanks to this luscious pictorial, I have lifestyle envy too:

Julie: "The way our lives were in the States, we'd be seeing our kids at dinner - if we were lucky. In Morocco everything shuts down at noon and Zak and Noor are home from school for two hours. So this becomes our family time."

"At first I panicked, I didn't have pointers for how to raise a child in this culture. Then I stopped thinking about what Morocco doesn't have and started thinking about what it does have." On weekends the family goes on outings - to the Atlas mountains where Zak and Noor ride donkeys, or to a beach on the Atlantic where there are flamingos and tide pools.

They rent two adjoining houses, one is where they live, the other is the Zid Zid workshop. "Having the two houses allows us a connection between home and work life," says Essakalli. "The kids understand, though, that each place has a different function. They can come into the work space anytime if they need to, but they respect it for what it is."

It's an inspiring read with beautiful photos that give you a peek inside their home. I love the parenting/cultural differences too: Noor is scaling a metal grate her parents attached to the wall like a Moroccan jungle gym. Real good. But I cannot imagine anyone doing that here.




(Photos below are from Zid Zid's catalogue)Now this is a play room:


I have one of these fab tables - in dark brown with a branch design in the centre - but I'm not sure if I'll actually sell them in the shop: Their weight and bulk make them pricey to ship from Morocco, so they'd sell for about $400. But if you're interested in a bit of a splurge I am happy to place an order for you. Same with the big silver poufs - they'll sell for about $200. I think I have to have one.