Catherine Martin | The Majorelle collaboration

You have just returned from launching Majorelle in New York at Catherine Martin and Baz Lurhmann’s home. How did it go?

It was an extremely exciting week, we were not only launching our largest ever Mokum collection into North America but we were doing so from Catherine’s beautiful home. Catherine has filled her home with Majorelle fabrics, trimmings and wallpapers, and their home is very much in keeping with her style, which is both brave and sophisticated.

We held press presentations in the morning and Catherine hosted a cocktail party in the evening. These events allowed the New York media and interior designers to experience the range in a very glamourous and holistic way, showcasing how the collection layers and mixes patterns, plains, and wallpapers insitu.
 

How do you begin a Catherine Martin collection and where did the theme of Majorelle come from?

The collections are very much inspired by Catherine’s recent work, often a Bazmark film or a large design project. Our latest collection was a continuation from the Paradiso outdoor collection which was inspired by her work on the famed Faena Hotel in South Beach Miami, but we took it in a new direction after meeting with Catherine in New York.

We had just received the first woven sample of Majorelle and agreed it was looking very ‘moorish’, it was then that we talked about Yves St Laurent’s Marrakesh retreat and choose to explore this as a key influence. With Yves coming from France this also allowed us to reference Catherine’s French heritage and love of European design in the collection. We also wanted to pay homage to classic luxury textiles of the last 100 years, developing our own take on animal skins and a contemporary tropical palm which resulted in the beautiful La Palma textile and wallpaper.

What is the biggest difference between collaborating with Catherine and a Mokum studio collection?

The biggest difference for us is the influence of the guest designer; our goal is to meet her vision for the range in keeping with Mokum’s view of luxury textiles. Every idea, design, construction, and colour is approved by Catherine. Now that she is primarily based out of New York it does slow down the development process but this is such a small price to pay for working with such a creative talent!

Also, Catherine’s collections are primarily pattern driven and embrace a very theatrical colour palette which adds diversity to the Mokum brand’s product offering.

Which is your favourite design in the collection and why?

I love Bengal Tiger. It nearly didn’t make the range as we had originally experimented with printing it, but we weren’t happy with the direction it was heading. We wanted our tiger to be able to hold its own against the iconic silk tiger prints which are staples within the luxury interior design community. At the eleventh hour we redesigned it to be a jacquard velvet which enabled a much more complex look. The final Bengal Tiger is a European piece dyed velvet with beautiful binding details within the spine and features subtle metallic shadowing to create even more glamour.

Lastly, what’s next for this collaboration?

We are producing an outdoor version of the La Palma print and have just begun initial discussions for our next range based on Bazmark’s next film project, which is very exciting – it will take us in a completely new direction!