Tag alongside to Tangier for a behind the scenes go to with designer Veere Grenney at Gazebo, his extraordinary Moroccan residence the place his subtle type and nicely traveled eye have culminated in an intoxicating unique paradise.
All through New Zealand born Veere Grenney’s storied profession, he has traveled the world, had an vintage store on Portobello Highway and labored for design icons and companies from David Hicks and Mary Fox Linton to Sibyl Colefax and John Fowler, the place he ultimately grew to become design director. Alongside the best way, he assiduously studied all types of magnificence, labored diligently at his craft, and absorbed the numerous influences of many years of design legends.
With its temperate climate and distinctive location on the northern tip of Africa overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar, straddling each the Mediterranean and Atlantic, Tangier has been a beacon for worldwide creatives for many years. Veere first visited Tangier in 1973. Twenty years later, he returned and continued to go to each summer season, lastly buying his home excessive on The Previous Mountain in 2009. As Veere described it, Gazebo was then “a uncared for cottage on a cliff, with two and a half acres of jungle round and in entrance of it.”
Conjuring up all of the influences and inspirations of his profession, Gazebo grew to become Veere’s crowning glory, a really private “final expression of magnificence.” His love of Regency structure and colonial buildings led to the idea for the home together with a colonnaded entry corridor (above) with inner courtyard backyard (to the best) protected against wind.
One then enters the spacious sitting room, above, a extra formal ode to basic British design with chintz lined partitions with work that each one share “a high quality of foreignness,” so evocative of the character of Tangier itself. The opposite finish, with views over the gardens and entry to the terrace, is enveloped in treillage with Colefax’s basic Bowood hanging on the French doorways.
Veere cites iconic designer Syrie Maugham as inspiration for his charming eating room.
With its spectacular assortment of early nineteenth century Royal Worcester plates hung decoratively on the partitions, plaster palm tree pilasters executed by native artisans, the house is enchanting for any event.
The library is, in my thoughts, probably the most evocative of an unique Moroccan house. It took artist Alistair Erskine, a frequent collaborator, three months to finish the partitions’ fake tilework in Mongiardino type.
All through the home Veere embraced eclectic combos of materials and furnishings for a house that’s supremely private and effortlessly walks the road between refined and artisanal, with contributions of grasp craftsmen from each Morocco and England.
And not using a particular plan in thoughts, Veere’s design for Gazebo materialized instinctively into probably the most superb incarnation of elegant and private type. Thanks Veere for welcoming us into your beautiful paradise.
You possibly can be taught extra about Veere’s design philosophy and his properties in his e book Searching for Magnificence, which incorporates his residences in Tangier, Suffolk, and London, from Vendome Press, our beneficiant video sponsor who publishes stunning illustrated books on the nice arts and pictures, structure and inside design, vogue and jewellery, way of life and journey, and French tradition.
All images by Stacey Bewkes for Quintessence
