Agnes Emery Riad by Richard Powers


Agnes Emery Riad

Pictures Richard Powers

Words Dominic Bradbury

Not available in Italy

Belgian designer Agnes Emery is best known for her masterful use of colour. Her riad home deep in the heart of Marrakech’s medina is a masterclass – an ‘embassy’ of Emery – where her work and design philosophy are given full expression. The house is actually a collection of three different buildings acquired by Emery over many years and now inter-connected. They share a common approach to colour, with soothing greens and blues pervading those rooms arranged around two courtyards, complete with water pools and planted with orange and lemon trees. Emery’s own tile designs are also seen throughout, infused with organic colours and motifs inspired by nature, suggesting the idea of a colourful garden oasis hidden away among the narrow alleyways of the ‘red city’.

The latest addition to Emery’s home offered not just extra living and working space but the opportunity to introduce fresh tile designs, ideas and patterns. The rooftop bedroom and bathroom here introduces a tranquil grey colour palette. Here and in the other freshly completed spaces in this part of the house, Emery applies colours of similar but subtly different tones and shades, creating an effect that is always calm, soothing and seductive

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