Rebecca Davison
marrakech
The inspiration for this collection comes from Moroccan culture, where craftmanship is at the heart of their daily lives. A lifestyle of traditional crafts creating their produce to sell, from basic techniques and creating truly unique objects. Taking inspiration from Marrakech where the craftmanship varies from leatherwork, weaving and iron work seen throughout the ‘Red City’.
The research combines all these crafts and inspires designs into knit, wovens and embroidery. Fabrics which were used for the collection resemble trades, such as leather and suede. The colour palette is inspired by the terracotta city walls and the pops of colour which can be found in the details around the City such as the Zellij tiles found covering many areas in Marrakech. The yarns used captivate the matte city walls and spices that line the streets. Experimentation with knitting is used to create volumous long haired textures inspired by the Boucherouite rugs and wedding blankets of Morocco combined with silk fibres sourced from Germany to create a feel of luxury and add a contempory design approach. Embroidery details are used throughout the collection into both knitwear and leather with patterns created from the Zellij tiles. The patterns in some garments have been hand painted onto the suede then embroidery threads and yarn were used for over parts of the paint. The traditional Moroccan Berber woman is incorporated as a reference for silhouette development which is based on layering and oversized hoods. The stripes in a traditional berber cape blanket inspire ideas for knitwear and the trapeze hood shape. Cactus silks sourced from the Marrakech Medina, were used throughout the collection to add unique and beautiful detailing to garments.