Travel hasn’t always been a part of my life.
My family didn’t travel much. We visited family in different states, but we never “destination traveled.”
I loved our trips to see family, but I didn’t know what destination travel was until I was in the third or fourth grade.
We drove to visit family in Pennsylvania and I met a cousin who is about 15 years older than me. She had just gotten out of college, and she showed me her photo albums. She had admired the brilliant green landscape of Ireland, stood in front of the pyramids in Egypt, and floated in the Dead Sea.
I was amazed. That trip literally opened the world to me.
photo Lisa Gilmore in Morocco
So, when I got older and became an adult myself, I never forgot that the world is a grand and beautiful place that I want to experience.
As a young interior designer, I would travel to markets, conferences, or tradeshows in different U.S. cities and stay a couple of extra days to explore a new place. And for a long time, that seemed like enough.
Then after my first marriage ended, I spent some time evaluating my life, and I realized that I hadn’t visited any of the places that I had dreamed of as a little girl.
So, I got my passport and decided that traveling was going to be part of my new life.
My New Well-Traveled Life
In the first two years after the divorce was finalized, I went to Canada, then to Paris for a large tradeshow, then to South Africa, and back to Paris again. Then Covid happened.
But I had learned so much about myself in that short time. I discovered that if I’m in a rut or feeling stagnant or have had multiple bad days, getting away– even if it’s just to a beach three hours away– helps me reset. It rejuvenates me and is my internal medicine.
photo Lisa Gilmore in Paris 2020
As a business owner, we carry our work with us 24/7. It’s at home. It’s at the office. It’s in conversations. When you go out to dinner with friends, people want to know what you’re up to, which is great. I love that friends are interested in what I do, but whenever I travel, I go to places where people don’t know me. It’s a way to truly turn it off and leave that whole identity behind and just be a person who soaks in a new culture, gets inspired, and then returns even better as Lisa Gilmore the designer.
Why a trip to Morocco?
I have known of Morocco for a long time. Diana Vreeland was the editor of Vogue in the 1960s and she would do photo shoots all over the world. There were a couple of locations that always stood out to me, and Morocco was one of them. I watched a documentary that talked about the majesty of Morocco, and then I saw model Ashley Graham post on Instagram when she visited Morocco. And I’ve always had this fascination with Moroccan rugs– the texture and vibrancy that they’re known for.
Morocco has been in the back of my mind but I hadn’t given a lot of thought to planning a trip there right now.
photo Royal Mansuer, Marrakech Lisa Gilmore
Then, one of my designer friends sent a group email asking if any of us would be interested in going to Morocco. She said, “There’s this retreat that I discovered from goop, and I’ve been dying to go. It’s super limited, they only take about nine people at a time, and they just opened one up for the end of the year.”
Without hesitation, I told her to count me in.
The agenda was very elusive and top secret. But we knew we’d be shopping, seeing their beautiful rugs, and learning about the history and culture of Morocco, so it sounded like the perfect retreat to me.
I was so right.
Highlights of the Trip
We stayed at Peacock Pavillions a boutique hotel, located in an olive orchard, that was designed by an American couple. Chris is an architect, and his wife, Maryam, is a human rights activist and designer who’s been featured in Elle Decor and dozens of other publications and has written a book called Marrakesh by Design.
They planned everything for us from transportation to every meal. I’m usually not a person who likes planned vacations or guided tours, but this was a great experience. It was such a brain break and it allowed inspiration to come in and me to relax and just enjoy my friends. It completely refilled my cup.
Moroccan Design
The design in general and the architecture in Morocco were something I’d never seen before, and I pride myself on creating unique and beautiful designs. I thought I had seen beautiful tile work before, but Morocco was over the top. It was real craftsmanship– every little piece was hand cut and hand placed– everything had such intention and purpose which I thought was lovely.
Yves Saint Laurent Museum
Going to the YSL Museum and Memorial Gardens was wonderful. I’m so inspired by iconic people from the past and the stories of their lives– how they became successful and how they built their careers. Saint Laurent started his career as a fashion designer in Paris but later in his career, he fell in love with Marrakesh and moved there. The museum has an amazing curated collection of his fashion on display, but my favorite part was his sketches and seeing how his brain worked.
Moroccan Culture
I loved learning about the culture of Morocco and the people– how they think and the interesting magic they have. Some people believe in ghosts here, but the Moroccans believe in genies and they don’t want genies in their homes. They believe that keyhole arches are barriers between them and the other world of genies and that keyhole arches protect them. So that is a prominent feature in their architecture.
There is extreme wealth and extreme poverty in Morocco. However, they’re not a culture that is flashy or showy. So you don’t see wealthy people driving a Mercedes wagon, walking around with expensive bags, or huge houses. In fact, the windows of houses are very small so people can’t see the wealth inside. I thought that was really interesting because here in the States it’s so opposite of that.
Intentional Beauty
I liked how intentional they are about beauty. Everything there is desert– so bland and boring– but they bring beauty in other ways. Even their tools are beautiful and hand-carved and have such pride and intention. To me that says a lot about them as humans and how they carry themselves and present themselves.
That is something I want to incorporate more into my life– intentional beauty– and I think I’m very conscious of that already. But this trip just brought it to the forefront even more. I’m not a designer who fills people’s homes with things just for the sake of them being filled. I like them to have stories. I like to reuse their antiques or restore something that just needs a little love– to give them a new life. It validated that I am doing a good job of preserving people’s stories.
Project Soar
I mentioned that Maryam, the owner of the hotel, is also a human rights activist. She has a nonprofit for underprivileged teen girls in Morocco, Syria, and Uganda called Project Soar.
While Morocco is very beautiful, there are some horrible things within the culture and how they treat women– specifically young girls. Childhood marriage is a real thing there. I wasn’t aware of how prevalent it is there. There is also a lot of shame around menstruation. A lot of the girls hide it when they come of age because then they can be married off shortly after.
Project Soar teaches these girls different skillsets than what they are taught at home or school like how to negotiate or speak up for themselves and how to be more empowered. In fact, 99% of their girls are able to negotiate themselves out of childhood marriage, which I think is absolutely amazing.
When we toured the site and met the girls, I was so emotional. Being pregnant with my own daughter now, I see things from a different perspective. How lucky we are that we don’t have to worry about those things. But it also makes me sad, because though we’re ahead, there are so many girls that deal with bullying, eating disorders, and mental illness. There is still work to be done here and in countries like Morocco.
A portion of the proceeds from our trip went to Project Soar, and it’s an organization that I plan to support for years to come. Even though it’s not in our own country, it’s important to spread hope and education and help girls around the world. They aren’t as privileged as we are but with our help, they could be.
Design Takeaways
There was so much beautiful color in Morocco. Though building exteriors are in desert colors, the interiors are the exact opposite of bland or beige. It inspired me to be more unapologetic with color and think a little bit more about the legacy I am creating. There’s an opportunity to design a home in such a way that 50 years from now someone could say, “Oh my gosh, this is an insane tile installation. We have to preserve this,” rather than “This is dated. Let’s rip it out.”
We recently did a mid-century renovation that we completely gutted because it was dated and there were some pretty horrible renovations in between. But we let the architecture and legacy of the home guide our collection to create something current that flows well and isn’t jarring to the house.
Where to Next?
We have a baby coming in the spring, so I don’t honestly know where I will go next. I’m excited to create a lifestyle of travel for my daughter that I didn’t have. I want to be one of those families walking around Paris with their four-year-old eating a croissant or in Venice strolling down the Grand Canal.
When I was in Morocco, I bought her a beautiful camel sculpture with encrusted tiles on the back of it to remind her that she rode a camel with me.
I’m inspired to think of different ways to travel with a family. I don’t know where that will be. Right now, everything feels open-handed because I know this next chapter will be something I can’t comprehend. Which is a little challenging for my brain. I’m just in the process of letting it go and letting things come to me– navigating being a business owner and a new mom and wondering how that will look.
But visiting Morocco reminded me why travel will always be a part of my life and my family’s life.
I hope the same is true for you.
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