{"id":18571,"date":"2026-11-04T11:32:44","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T10:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.valeriebarkowski.com\/?p=18571"},"modified":"2026-11-04T11:33:21","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T10:33:21","slug":"nomad-at-home-valerie-barkowskis-home-on-the-cover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.valeriebarkowski.com\/en\/nomad-at-home-valerie-barkowskis-home-on-the-cover\/","title":{"rendered":"Nomad at Home: Val\u00e9rie Barkowski\u2019s home on the cover"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The cover of Nomad at Home<\/strong>, the book by Hilary Robertson published in July 2022, features a photograph of Dar Kawa, Val\u00e9rie Barkowski\u2019s<\/strong> home in the Marrakech medina<\/strong>. Inside, a sixteen-page chapter, \u201cMedina in Monochrome,\u201d explores her journey and her way of living.<\/p>

It depicts an alcove beneath a Moorish arch: a mattress, a Moroccan wedding blanket, a stack of embroidered cushions. Quotes have been translated from the original English.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pages from Nomad at Home by Hilary Robertson<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Nomad at Home, a book on those who have made a home in a different country<\/h2>

Hilary Robertson<\/strong> is an interior stylist, born in London and based in the United States. Nomad at Home: Designing the Home More Traveled<\/strong>, her fifth book, is published by Ryland Peters & Small<\/a>, with photography by Mike Karlsson Lundgren and a foreword by American designer Leanne Ford.<\/p>

This interior design book<\/strong> visits ten homes of creatives who have left their country of origin. Hilary Robertson divides them into three groups: those who settle for good elsewhere, those who live between several bases, and those who bring the spirit of the places they have traveled back home.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pages from Nomad at Home by Hilary Robertson<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\u201cMedina in Monochrome\u201d: what the feature reveals<\/h2>

The chapter in Nomad at Home<\/strong> begins with a paradox. Hilary Robertson writes that the Marrakech medina<\/strong> is not the most obvious refuge for a \u201cmonochromist with modernist tendencies.\u201d Outside, the souk with its piles of spices, rugs, djellabas, and baskets. Behind the door of Dar Kawa<\/strong>, she describes \u201ca calm 17th-century oasis of white accented with black,\u201d where the silence of the patio is disturbed only by oranges falling from the trees and the call of the muezzin.<\/p>

The feature tours the house: Moorish doors painted in gray, tadelakt, lemonwood spoons, a rooftop terrace.<\/p>

The neutral palette has a practical reason, which Val\u00e9rie Barkowski explains in the book: \u201cAlso, in Morocco you don’t live the same way in summer and winter. In summer, you live on the terrace in the early morning and evening as you hunt for some fresh air. Winters are the reverse\u201d<\/em> A neutral backdrop allows everything to change from one season to the next. The same logic has guided her boutiques since 2001: the monochrome concept<\/strong>. The restoration of the house is detailed in our article: Artistic direction of a place. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pages from Nomad at Home by Hilary Robertson<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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V.Barkowski home linens through the pages<\/h2>

The home linens<\/strong> featured in the story come almost entirely from Val\u00e9rie Barkowski\u2019s collections. In the interview used to write the chapter, she says it simply: \u201cMost of the linens are from my own collection. Normal no?\u201d<\/em><\/p>

In the patio, the monochrome embroidered textiles are from her collections, sold in her boutique in the Marrakech Medina. In the bedrooms, white sheets bear what the book calls \u201cTwist The World\u201d touches, a nod to the V.Barkowski brand signature: contrasting black hems, blanket-stitch edges, running-stitch patterns. Elsewhere, graphic cushions sit alongside Moroccan wedding blankets and Bertoia chairs.<\/p>

The word summarizes her method: \u201cI work with local and ancestral crafts that I “twist”. So did I in India, in Vietnam, in Russia\u2026 Wherever I work in fact\u201d<\/em><\/p>

Another nod: black tassels, borrowed from the Moroccan tarboosh, serve as light switch pulls. The tassel has accompanied Val\u00e9rie Barkowski for thirty years, and Cond\u00e9 Nast Traveler filmed her in her workshop<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pages from Nomad at Home by Hilary Robertson<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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A nomad settled in Marrakech<\/h2>

Hilary Robertson traces a journey defined by departures. Val\u00e9rie Barkowski left art school to become a model, a profession that allowed her to travel between fashion seasons: Chiang Mai, New York, Ho Chi Minh City. \u201cAs long as there are artisans, interesting cultural places,and good food, I am fine\u201d<\/em><\/p>

It was in Russia, where she lived for three years, that she found her trade. In Moscow, only linen by the meter was available: one babushka sewed her linens, another embroidered them. Visiting friends wanted to buy them: \u201cThat was the beginning.’\u201d<\/em><\/p>

In 1991, she discovered Morocco, \u201ca country that had not been on my travel map\u201d<\/em> . Five years later, she moved there and found Dar Kawa, a ruin from the early 17th century whose proportions she loved instantly. Her way of traveling is recounted in the article Adopting slow travel in Marrakech<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pages from Nomad at Home by Hilary Robertson<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Slowing down: the choice recounted in Nomad at Home<\/h2>

Nomad at Home<\/strong> also reflects on a turning point. At one time, Val\u00e9rie Barkowski\u2019s textile business employed 500 embroiderers and knitters and had over 400 distributors worldwide. She did not feel \u201cformatted to feed fashion’s demand for seasonal collections,\u201d writes Hilary Robertson, to produce collections at the pace of fashion seasons. She sold her fashion brand, Mia Zia<\/a>, in 2007.<\/p>

She quantifies this imbalance: \u201cIIn that huge business I realized that only 5% of my timewas filled with work that I enjoy against 95% of solving problems.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

The book concludes with what she has built since: a workshop, a boutique, a riad, and an e-shop\u2014at once a home and an income, an anchor that gives her the freedom to leave.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pages from Nomad at Home by Hilary Robertson<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\u201cHome,\u201d according to Val\u00e9rie Barkowski<\/h2>

To Hilary Robertson<\/strong>, who asks her what \u201chome\u201d means, she replies: \u201cHome is more than anything else a state of mind for me. I can feel home in many places\u201d<\/em><\/p>

And to those who leave their country: \u201cHave an open mind. Be humble, listen to the locals.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

The exchange continued after the book. In August 2022, Hilary Robertson published a Marrakech address book in Yolo Journal<\/a>, the travel magazine founded by Yolanda Edwards, based on Val\u00e9rie Barkowski\u2019s recommendations. All the addresses mentioned are still current.<\/p>

What Nomad at Home says about Val\u00e9rie Barkowski<\/h2>

Four years after its publication, Nomad at Home<\/strong> remains a sixteen-page portrait of Val\u00e9rie Barkowski\u2019s work: a house in the medina, home linens<\/strong> from her workshop, and a life organized to be able to leave and return. Other publications are gathered on the press page<\/a>, and her journey on the About page<\/a>.<\/p>

Read also <\/p>

\u2192 Dar Kawa, the house that shaped 30 years of textiles<\/a><\/p>

\u2192 Artistic direction of a place, how I work<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pages from Nomad at Home by Hilary Robertson<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Frequently asked questions about Nomad at Home<\/h2>

What is the book Nomad at Home?<\/h3>

An interior design book<\/strong> by Hilary Robertson, published in July 2022 by Ryland Peters & Small (192 pages, in English). It features ten homes of creatives settled far from their country of origin.<\/p>

Which house is on the cover of Nomad at Home?<\/h3>

Dar Kawa<\/strong>, Val\u00e9rie Barkowski\u2019s home in the Marrakech medina.<\/p>

Where can I find the home linens seen in Nomad at Home?<\/h3>

In her collections, handmade in her Marrakech workshop. The pieces can be discovered at the V.Barkowski store<\/a> in the medina and are available for custom order.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cover of Nomad at Home, the book by Hilary Robertson published in July 2022, features a photograph of Dar Kawa, Val\u00e9rie Barkowski\u2019s home in the Marrakech medina. Inside, a sixteen-page chapter, \u201cMedina in Monochrome,\u201d explores her journey and her way of living. It depicts an alcove beneath a Moorish arch: a mattress, a Moroccan …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[610],"tags":[641,644,640,643,645,647,646,642,648],"class_list":["post-18571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press","tag-artisans","tag-monochrome","tag-moorish-arch","tag-moroccan-wedding-blanket","tag-nomad","tag-tadelakt","tag-tassels","tag-workshop","tag-zaouia"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.valeriebarkowski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/nomad-at-home-1200x620-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriebarkowski.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriebarkowski.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriebarkowski.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriebarkowski.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriebarkowski.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriebarkowski.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18580,"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriebarkowski.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18571\/revisions\/18580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriebarkowski.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriebarkowski.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriebarkowski.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriebarkowski.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}