Out & About

How Morocco Inspired the New Desmond & Dempsey Collection

Co-founder Molly Goddard on how the souks of Marrakech fired her imagination.

We all love those lazy Sundays: breakfast in bed, lounging around the house doing whatever you please and all while never getting out of your PJs. And this is exactly what Desmond & Dempsey, makers of fun and luxurious pyjamas, want you to do. You'll certainly never want to take them off – and as their designs double-up as the perfect summer daywear, you'll never really need to.

Their latest collection, Le Jardin, was inspired by co-founders Molly Goddard and Joel Jeffery's travels in Morocco and is beautifully illustrated with palm trees, camels and the moonlit horizons of the Atlas Mountains. With these prints as a starting point, the Papier creative team have collaborated with Desmond & Dempsey on a capsule collection of personalised notebooks and sketchbooks – which you can monogram in the same style as their pyjamas. We chatted to Molly to discuss how the North African nation set off her imagination – not only for the new designs but also, the brand's Sunday Souk pop-up in London this summer.


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alt textMolly's Moroccan scrapbook

What first drew you to visit Morocco?
I first visited Marrakech when we moved to London and fell in love with the chaotic spirit and colours. When the new Yves Saint Laurent museum opened, it re-ignited my curiosity!

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What inspired Le Jardin collection?
The opening of the YSL museum in Marrakech was what first prompted our intrigue for Morocco. Initially, we were interested in Studio Ko, the architects behind the museum, but we quickly became drawn to the stories of Morocco in the 60s. Pierre Bergé, Saint Laurent, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, the exotic dreams that inspired the world.

We wanted our campaign to capture the same spirit of that time. To set a tone that was easy, yet wildly exciting. We wanted to ignite your imagination and set a scene where you can almost feel what it was like to be there in those moments.

alt textMolly's Moroccan scrapbook

What was the process of designing the new collection?
We started by visiting Tangier, Fez and Marrakech. We met as many locals as we could and got to know the different makers. I kept great thick scrapbooks where I stuck everything from plane tickets to matchboxes and sugar wrappers. We then took all of our inspiration home and started painting, drawing, screen printing, etc.!


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What are the plans for the pop-up?
Our intention is to transport the excitement, electricity and the spirit of the Moroccan souks to London. It will be part shop, part garden, part supper club. We have F. Mondays setting up a café and are moving D&D's whole studio to work from there. We would all love to meet you, so please pop in for a coffee, a nosy about or if you fancy spending a day working from there, we would love for you to join us.

alt textTwo personalised notebooks from the new Desmond & Dempsey Papier collaboration

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What will you be using the Papier x Desmond & Dempsey sketchbooks for?
We are off to Mexico and California for our new collections next month so they will become the focus of my new scrapbook!!!


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What's your perfect Sunday?
Hmmmm, so many different things: coffee and the paper in the morning, brunch, a nice walk, a market, an early afternoon movie at the cinema, a roast, and playing cards on the floor.


Sadly the Le Jardin collection is no longer available but you can still make your own travel scrapbook with personalised notebooks with the many other beautiful Desmond & Dempsey designs.


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