Bill Willis, a name famous across Morocco for his interior design that modernised Northern African style, spent decades in Marrakech, and by every account collected people the way others collect art. His parties were the kind people still talk about, his circle wide enough to outlast him. Some of those friendships threaded through the city long after he died, and a few of those same friends work at IZZA. The hotel’s bar carries his name, its walls lined with photographs of Bill mid-laugh, mid-story, surrounded by faces that most would recognise.
That same instinct for gathering people runs through the rest of the hotel. The riad’s pool sits beneath low-lit archways carved with intricate detail, ivy hanging down the walls behind them, the turquoise of the water set against the amber glow of Moroccan hanging lamps. Above it, the rooftop bar and restaurant takes its design cues from star constellations, mapped into the layout for evenings that run late.
The art collection follows the same logic as everything else at IZZA – built on relationships rather than acquisitions. The hotel’s curators have spent time getting to know local artists directly, and the collection reads less like a gallery hang and more like a record of who they’ve met along the way. Khadija Jayi, Mario Klingemann and Leila Alaoui meet guests at reception. Up the staircase toward the gym and roof terrace sits work from Yatreda, the Ethiopian collective. The courtyards hold “The Space Between Us,” bringing together Ismail Zaidy, Fatimazohra Serri and Safaa Kotbi, while Sebastião Salgado’s photography surrounds Noujoum. Much of it is for sale, originals and affordable prints both, so a guest taken with a piece over breakfast can leave with it days later.
Noujoum and its kitchen are no different. Plates are built for sharing, the table doing the work rather than any one dish standing alone, and the produce comes from people the kitchen knows well – seafood from Dakhla, Sati and Oualidia, lamb, beef and chicken from Rahmna farms. The seafood platter shows it best: crab salad, sea bass ceviche cured in citrus with a cactus chutney, octopus salad, oysters, spiny lobster finished with café de paris butter, all landing at once for hands to reach across. Cocktails lean both classic and distinctly Moroccan, best had amongst friends, old and new.
izza.com/noujoum-restaurant | izza.com
@noujoumontheroof | @izzamarrakech
46 Driba Laarida, 46 Sidi Ahmed Soussi, Marrakesh 40000, Morocco
