Saint Laurent did much
of his design work in a
succession of
Marrakesh villas,
luxuriating in the
sensuality of Moroccan
life. In 1980, he and
Pierre Berge bought
the Villa Oasis and
the Jardin Majorelle,
saving them from
destruction by a real
estate development
stones erupt with geological puissance to
meet and meld with a more intricately
contrived geometric armature of red
terracotta brick, handmade and fired in the
northern :Moroccan town of Tetouan.
As if it were a piece of fabric, the woven
texture of the brick facade was artfully hand
drawn. Parts of the pattern were invented,
other motif's allude to historical precedents,
including a minaret in Iran. Life-size
mock-ups were used to evaluate the effects
of sun and shadow at different times of day.
Between the terrazzo and brick is a thin
band of bush-hammered concrete, which
forms part of the building structure and
bears the weight of the brick section. A
supple curve draws you into the circularentrance courtyard, softening the sense of
brute fortification, as does the gleaming gold
canopy, pinned like a solitary brooch on a
sober jacket.
The architects of this costume drama are
Studio KO, a Paris and :Marrakesh-based
partnership founded by Karl Fournier and
Olivier Marty. With a repertoire of houses
and interiors - they designed the Chiltern
Firehouse in London for hotelier Andre
Balazs - the pair specialises in a kind of luxe
1·ustique for clients whose spending power
could get them anything they want. 'We
don't do sleek', says Marty, 'we prefer things
that show they've been crafte, d by someone's
hands .' Trained at Paris's Ecole des Beaux-
Arts, they spent time in Morocco after••
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graduating. A chan ce meeting ·with their
friend, H ermes creative director P ascale
~1:ussard, at the airport en route home, vvas
the source of their first job - a house for
~1:ussard's uncle in Tangier. The Hermes
connection leveraged access to an insular
network of wealthy and aristocratic French
expats, contacts that would have been more
difficult to secure in Paris. At a lunch given
by Marella Agnelli, the gran de dame of
Italian society hostesses, Fournier and
Marty were introduced to Pierre Berge.
From there, things took off.
Since Saint Laurent's death, the
foundation has amassed some 5,000
garments and 15,000 accessories, providing
ample raw material for the tourist hordes of