Morocco Modern (Ypma, Herbert J. M. World Design, 4.)

Don't let yourself be fooled by the title. This isn't really an interior design book at all. It's more of a Moroccan themed photography book, filled with artsy camera angles, photos of random people, and extreme closeup shots of architecture, while also focusing on the history and various exports of Morocco. As a Moroccan sourcebook, it's not half bad. It's very informative and written in a very informal style that's easily digested by the average reader. I really enjoyed reading the historical information and looking at the gorgeous pictures, hence the 4 stars. However, if you are thinking of picking this up as a resource for Moroccan style interior decorating, I wouldn't recommend this as one of your top picks. There are many other interior decorating books out there which are so much better for that purpose... "Moroccan Style" by Alexandra Bonfante-Warren, "Moroccan Interiors" by Lisa Lovatt-Smith, and "Exotic Style" by Sara Bliss, to name just a few. I picked this up to add to my Moroccan decorating collection, and was pretty disappointed with it as a design book. It hardly focuses on design at all. There aren't any interior pictures at all of average Moroccan homes. The few interior pictures featured are limited to public buildings such as mosques, historical sites, hotels, and government buildings. Most of the photographs in this book are exterior shots combined with closeup pictures of tilework, grillework, calligraphy, pottery, and textiles. To get a better idea of what I mean, take a look at the back cover of the book. The 6 pictures featured on the back cover of the book give a pretty fair overview of most of the photographic content of this book. The pictures are very lovely, but most of them aren't going to be too terrible helpful as design inspiration.

I bought this book for its colorful, lush photography, high production values, and because I just really wanted it when I saw it. As a book collector, I had to have it. As an artist, I can't walk by it on the shelf without picking it up and looking inside - it's very inspiring. Makes me want to go to Morocco !

The richness of the colors, the incredible patterns for the tiles, the bountiful King's Palmeraie... I was just inspired. Immensily superior to Moroccan Interiors, better photos and no comparison in terms of the tex