One early morning in May I sat out eating breakfast on the terrace in Marrakech, looking out over the city. The early call of the muezzin had broken the silence and with pencil and notebook I was absorbing the city that stretched out before me. The box-like architecture reminding me of the cuboid jagged edges of fluorite crystals. The Journey had begun...
"The French turn of phrase, Porte Ouvrant, reminds us that the door is not just opened, but opening."
Cassandra
"The beautiful key-hole shape of the Moorish doors always seems to invite one to look in, to enquire and to wonder. In the bustling Medina with my sketch book I imagined doorways with swivelling doors and through them I created new imaginary vistas."
"For the sake of a single rose, the gardener becomes servant to a thousand thorns"
Moroccan Proverb
"In Morocco the mashrabiya trellis screens are ubiquitous, shielding women from view. The repetitive geometric pattern of squares was a lovely shape to work with and build into earrings and bracelets. I made my Mashrabiya Trellis necklaces from the square box shape and set stones into the sides. And for earrings and the rings I set stones in the centre of the square."
Small hand-made tiles come together in the geometric Zellije style and adorn palace walls throughout Morocco. Like an optical illusion, the patterns of zellije appear. Whirling stars that link like cartwheels one to another.
The pomegranate is one of the most treasured fruits in Morocco and is thought to be medicinal to both the body and the soul. It has even been said to heal a broken heart. Cassandra's large Pomegranate pendant sparkles with pave set diamonds and slides open to reveal a treasure of inlaid cabochon rubies like the inside of the Morrocan fruit of paradise.
Leaving a delicate scattering of light across courtyards in the evenings, the lanterns immediately intrigued Cassandra's design thoughts. With pavé set diamonds, which curve gently to the outer edge, the earrings resemble the tiny glinting beads of light which escaped from the brass Moroccan lanterns.