Chabi Chic Co-Founders on Preserving Moroccan Artisanship Amid the Pandemic
By Laura Robinson
Morocco has reached new heights as a tourist destination over the past decade, culminating in an all-time record of 13 million tourists in 2019. However, 2020 claims an opposite milestone with border closures halting businesses and changing the pace of daily life for all. This particularly affects artisans who rely on sales from the typical year-round influx of tourists exploring souks and medinas. One Marrakech-based concept store, Chabi Chic, saw a way to help preserve Morocco’s crafting industries and jumped at the chance to support artisans amid the crisis.
Chabi Chic’s mission has been cutting-edge from the start, when French-native co-founders Nadia Noël and Vanessa Di Mino sought to combine contemporary design with classic Moroccan interior decor. Since its inception in 2013, Noël and Di Mino’s business has become a thriving conglomerate of all things authentic and trendy. Collections range from furniture, decor, kitchenware, cosmetics, spices, clothing, accessories and more. “The Chabi Chic style: mixing contemporary with traditional pieces that have charm and soul, is now a success,” Noël and Di Mino tell Al Fusaic. With four Marrakech stores, over two hundred points of sale around the world, a thriving e-commerce site, and a social media audience of almost one hundred thousand followers, Chabi Chic has become a tour de force in bringing Morocco-made goods to the global stage.
Most recently, Noël and Di Mino have launched the #SaveTheMedina initiative and now use Chabi Chic’s platform to promote the work of Marrakech artisans to their ever-growing international audience. Since June 23, 2020, Chabi Chic has made its resources, logistical know-how, and platform available to craftspeople, enabling the continued sale of artisans’ creations despite the tourism standstill. The Chabi Chic website now sells ornate mirrors, pottery, houseware, accessories, paintings, and more, all hand-made by local Marrakech artisans who receive the full profit from the sales of their work.
Below, Noël and Di Mino share their experience navigating business during a pandemic, the implementation of #SaveTheMedina, and give exclusive insight into future Chabi Chic partnerships to come.
What first inspired you to move to Morocco and create Chabi Chic?
NN: I first came to Morocco with Moroccan friends from my Parisian business school. It was literally an instant crush on the country, the people, the light, and the craft. I promised myself that I would come back after obtaining my diploma as an expert in international trade.
I was immediately interested in Moroccan craftsmanship and created my first Moroccan handicraft trading company between France and Morocco. So naturally, I moved to Morocco to be closer to the artisans. My meeting with Vanessa was clear-- we were both going back to our first loves: trading, decoration, and crafts. And Chabi Chic was born!
VDM: I worked on my own as an architect and decorator in Marrakech. I loved to build upon the creations of craftspeople at the time, so I created custom furniture pieces for my clients who did their shopping with my artisan contacts. Coming from a field that mixed creation, communication, and design, I had long been wanting to create a brand and use artisanal pieces to tell a story.
When I met Nadia, everything was nested in the right boxes. She had knowledge of the export market, trade, and logistics--these were skills that I certainly did not have. We each brought our own experiences and know-how to the other.
Our ambition to succeed as women also strengthened our dynamic. We put enormous pressure on ourselves to be able to achieve an emblematic brand with very little financial means. It all went very quickly. Everything was based on our knowledge, and above all, on our desire to succeed.
How did you get the idea to start the Save The Medina initiative?
NN and VDM: We were in the dark like everyone else for the first two months of confinement. We weren't sure how we were going to get by. We put everything in our e-shop to save what we could from our many years of sacrifices.
Sales increased, and we ended up taking over our Instagram account because we no longer had the means to delegate that to an agency. The followers understood that something was happening-- that we were giving ourselves up more and showing more about our fears. They saw above all that we did not want to let go.
More than anything, we knew we had to highlight the entire human chain that has been working with us every day for years. All these craftspeople, in total vagueness, and abandonment...it was inconceivable to not continue working hand in hand. We were going to find logistical solutions and give the visibility of our platform to other craftspeople--and the #SaveTheMedina project came to life.
How did you put your idea into action and implement the project?
NN and VDM: Our complementarity to each other is the key. We both managed our part with one goal: to make an idea a success!
We go to the artisans, make a nice selection, take pictures of the items and list the information needed so that it becomes an e-shop product and is no longer a souk product.
We then set up delivery shifts with the artisans, and work with them to get out of the usual informal processes. They are then able to invoice the items they sell on our site and maintain quality control.
How do you see modern and traditional elements of Moroccan crafts combining in your work and in daily life in Morocco?
NN and VDM: It seems simple to us since we knew how to incorporate our style, but at the beginning it was so new to mix styles and colors on Moroccan tables. The traditional compositions are quite classic in Morocco; but hospitality is as old as the world.
We wanted to dust that off a bit, while keeping true to the important codes and to not push people too much. At the beginning that was kind of the case with our Moroccan client-base, whereas the international clientele was already a little initiated into mixing or vintage, so that was a little easier. And time did the rest.
Our collections have grown and our many store openings have allowed us to better showcase our style. And our work at trade fairs has given us a more than legitimate basis.
What are your thoughts on the implications of COVID-19 and border closures on artisanship in Morocco?
NN and VDM: It will shake things up. The impoverishment of many families of craftspeople is already irreversible. Many will seek work in other fields, which may have better survived this economic crisis.
The disappearance of many master craftspeople will also certainly break the chain of teaching the crafts to the youngest generations. It is heartbreaking that Morocco could lose the strength of its crafting history. Some will turn to e-commerce, let’s hope…but unfortunately not all will.
Chabi Chic has also launched a rug auction via Instagram as part of the #SaveTheMedina initiative. Will these projects continue now that borders are re-opening?
NN and VDM: We will absolutely continue. The primary goal is to sell at the price we’ve set with the artisan ahead of time, and then any extra revenue generated from the auction is donated to craft associations. This month, we were able to donate €1,700 to the Eve Branson Foundation to support a community of craftspeople in the Ourika Valley for a few months. This would be almost impossible to do with smaller objects, so the rug auction allows us to generate more money for cooperatives.
Do you see future partnerships like Save the Medina in Chabi Chic's future?
NN and VDM: Yes! We have been looking for an association of artisans to donate a percentage of our profits to for a long time. And it's done! We’ll be announcing it to our followers soon, but you are the first to know. It’s a great satisfaction for us to be able to anchor our desire to help our sector in the long term.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.