The Designer: Meryanne Loum-Martin

 

 

The Profile: A French citizen of Senegalese and West Indian descent, Meryanne Loum-Martin began life as a Parisian lawyer but there was a creative genius fighting to get out. In 1985 she travelled to  Morocco and fell in love with red-walled Marrakesh and thus began the journey to become a self taught interior designer whose achievements have been celebrated in Architectural Digest, Harpers and Queen, The New York Times, Town and Country, and Vogue.

The Style: Loum-Martin almost single-handedly started the craze for transforming run down riads in Marrakesh into boutique hotels and combining this with a cultural and gourmet experience for guests.  In 1989 she and hr husband landscaper Gary Martin created Dar Tamsna luxury villas in the Palmeraie of Marrakesh.  Ten years later they opened Ryad Tamsna, a restaurant-gallery-boutique in the Marrakech Medina. Her most ambitious hotel launched in 2001, was Jnane Tamsna, a villa paradise on a six acre estate in the heart of the Palmeraie.  She has alsoused  her interior design knowledge to contribute to  a number of coffee table books such as The New Moroccan Style by Susan Sully. Coming next a new hotel and villas project, Jnane Ylane.

The Hotels: Dar Tamsna
                      Ryad Tamsna
                      Jnane Tamsna
                      Jnane Moussafir
                      Jnane Salmia
                         -All located in Marrakesh