From Moroccan spring to Melbourne winter

Metroscope has recently returned from a buying trip in Morocco to face the cold of a Melbourne winter. Brrr!

In case you're also having trouble coping with the winter, we've got some winter specials for you.

A special from the Marrakech souk are these cute felt hats - not only will they warm your head, they'll brighten your day.

Tagines are good any time of the year, but they're particularly good in winter. And just in case you don't have one, we're offering 25% off all our cooking tagines until stocks last. That means you can buy a tagine from as little as $37.50.

As always, it was good to return to Morocco and see our favourite people and places. We were pleased to see Mustapha, who makes our ottomans, recovering from a serious illness. However we were very sad to hear that Jewad who supervised the making of our mosaic tables had recently been killed in a motor bike accident. His employer, Ibrahim, assured us that we were still in good hands. Sharif, the man we buy our wooden tabes from, lost the roof from his warehouse in a recent storm and lost lots of stock. Thankfully our other suppliers are in good health and spirits, hamdullah (as they say in Morocco, meaning, thank God). We also made some new contacts and we hope we'll have ongoing productive relationships with them.

We've got some fabulous new stock being made for us - mosaic tables, new designs in tea glasses, leather ottomans, wonderful ornate silve occasional tables, heaps more wrought iron chairs, exotic lanterns, brass and silver platters, pottery and tiles from Fes and a few other bits and pieces. We hope everything will be ready to be packed by the end of June so that we'll have it by early  September. As they always say in Morocco - inshallah (as God wills)! We'll keep you informed of progress.

Over the next month we'll be adding a new section to our website - Moroccan Style. Here we'll be posting photos of Moroccan interiors that we think are special and inspiring, and hope that they'll give you some good decorating ideas. If you have any photos of your own that you'd like to share, please email them to us.

Metroscope is open over the coming months on Saturdays from 10 to 5 or other times by appointment. So come by and get your winter specials or see the other Moroccan furniture and homewares in stock.