Anayela
Marrakech, Morocco
This 300-year-old riad is tucked away in a lesser visited part of Marrakech's medina that feels remarkably untouched - boys play football in the dusty alleys outside and the air is filled with neighbourly chatter. "In Morocco, they have a saying that means 'You don't find your house, your house finds you,'" says AnaYela's director Andrea Bury. "Someone spotted us with a guide and asked us to have a look at a derelict building nearby. From the moment we saw it, we knew we had stumbled upon something magical." Over the course of a year the former palace was restored using nothing but hand tools and traditional techniques. A hundred craftsmen re-sculpted the building using tadelakt, a labour-intensive waterproof plaster. During the reconstruction a manuscript was discovered in a hidden room revealing the story of a 16-year-old girl's love affair. Starting with the words "I am Yela", the tale is hammered in silver onto the riad's doors. "I'm not an architect or a designer, but this project has made me completely rethink the way we live," reflects Bury. Soon after completing AnaYela she set up Abury, a platform to help artisans market their products on an international scale. Just like AnaYela, Abury preserves traditional skills by connecting them with modern design.