DESIGNER SUE WONG: INTRODUCING PALAZZO MARRAKECH

from The Eden Magazine May 2023

WHAT IS CARBON NEUTRAL MILK?

Photography by Greg Doherty & Dietmar Kohl

When fashion designer Sue Wong first acquired her Golden Hollywood historical home, The Cedars, she knew that it was a pantheon of ROCK STAR history, including the iconic Jimi Hendrix, who was brought to The Cedars by his good friend, Arthur Lee of the band called LOVE. In designing his former bedroom suite, she decided that the decor was to be in the Moroccan manner, both as an homage to Jimi and to her own glam Bohemian past during her wild halcyon days of living in counter-culture Venice, California. Mind you; she had never visited Morocco when she designed the Jimi Hendrix suite nearly 19 years ago. Only nine years later, she took herself on a tour of its three most famous cities: Tangiers, Fez, and Marrakesh Wong designed the signature Hendrix suite in lush, rich tones of cinnabar. The result was a vision of mixed exotic textiles and gorgeous Morrocan antique furnishings that is nothing less than kaleidoscopic.

When Sue Wong bought a huge, bland but decidedly boring McMansion totally devoid of personality and character in Los Feliz last year, she took up the challenge of giving it glamour, character, style, and grandeur. She was inspired by her previous decor of the Jimi Hendrix room at her Hollywood historical mansion, The Cedars, which embodied nostalgic opulence in the exotic Moroccan manner of the 1920s.

Inspired and emboldened by the Moroccan fantasy she had created at The Cedars, Sue designed an entire 10,300 square-foot Moroccan palazzo that’s guaranteed to be a visual mind-blower. Last summer, she trekked through four Morrocan cities, Casablanca, Marrakech, Fez, and Agadir, to comb for precious treasures in scorching 115° temperatures. It was an unforgettable trek of a lifetime that yielded the most astonishing unique pieces of furniture art.

Upon her return, she sat side-byside with a graphics artist friend, Dave Pascal, who manipulated the computer to put all her ideas into digital format. She proceeded to design every single piece of ceiling, doors, furniture, mosaic tiles, and architectural elements such as carved archways and columns that defined spaces. After Dave did all the digital work, each purchase order had to be sent via her Moroccan agent to over 36 Moroccan artisans in three cities, who were adroit at creating beautiful age-old artistry and handwork for all her orders, implementing the tradition of Morrocan handicraft of many centuries. The finished house is a totally amazing, all-handcrafted custom house – – every ceiling, every doorway, every piece of furniture all beautifully hand-made—MAGNIFICENT!

Sue Wong has had quite the odyssey conceiving every aspect of this spectacular home —the architecture, the pool/ patio designs, the dramatic Morrocan-themed entry of the house, with its mosaic tiled columns, plus designing all the original hand-painted and hand-carved ceilings for the entire house—not to mention all the special mosaic art tiles that are everywhere throughout the palazzo. And then, there was a matter of designing all of the interiors for each room. And that was all without any staff, as Wong personally supervised every aspect of the transformation of this exciting home. She even designed lamps, furniture, as well as all the bathroom vanities in a Morrocan manner. There were all together probably over 200 purchase orders for the entire house, and that’s just only the Moroccan portion.

The house is a unique work of art, and it is guaranteed that there will be no other house like it in the real estate market. The house consists of six bedrooms and seven baths, a solarium, a media room, a huge entertainment room with a built-in copper and silver Morrocan bar, a family room, and a stunning living room/ dining room with hand-painted ceilings. To quote Murray Rosen, editor of FVM Global Magazine and a long-time observer and admirer of Sue Wong, “The polymathic intelligence and sensitivity Sue Wong brings to each of her projects afford them a unique elegance to be dearly prized by the beholder. The Palazzo Marrakesh is truly a one-of-a-kind creation by a Renaissance woman at the height of her creative powers; it is not just a domicile, it is a work of art!”

About Sue Wong

Los Angeles designer Sue Wong is known for dazzling fashionistas with her couture-inspired glamorous signature style, combining the allure and elegance of iconic bygone eras with a modern sensibility to create timeless works of art. Distinguished by the impeccable quality of traditional couture dressmaking, her designs are steeped in romance and mystery while being thoroughly modern and accessible to women everywhere. Sue forged new ground in defining fashion that transcended generations and boundaries even as she created masterpieces of passion and desire expressed through inimitable style. She has dressed countless celebrities, including Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel, Minnie Driver, Tyra Banks, and Taylor Swift.

As a continuous practicing artist, Sue Wong continues to be an alchemist, now expanding her artistic vision to her legacy projects.

“I still have many dreams to realize, including the building of the future Sue Wong Fashion Museum, my biopic, RED LOTUS, my various book projects, including a coffee table Sue Wong fashion book, writing my autobiography, and the designing of a future spectacular tropical retreat on her ocean front land on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

“Never let go of your highest dreams, as are the children of your soul,” as Napoleon Hill once said.