Daniel Holfeld’s trove of Dar Sol treasures
A little Moroccan haven, Dar Sol takes you on a treasure hunt for stylish ethnic crafts
It’s the hottest day of the year when I visit Dar Sol, a new artisan lifestyle store hidden, slightly off the beaten track on the top floor of a former spacious photography studio in sunny Dún Laoghaire.
It may be a bit of a find to get there but when I do arrive I am greeted with a refreshing cup of mint tea by owner Daniel Holfeld and the feeling that I’ve discovered a little Moroccan haven right here in Dublin.
Described as a boutique style shopping experience, Dar Sol – meaning ‘house of the sun’ specialises in sourcing authentic, handmade homewares and highquality one-off pieces from expert craftsmen and women in Morocco and Arabia. Founded and curated by Dubliner Holfeld, a fashion photographer who has been travelling to Morocco over the last six years on assignment and saw a market among Irish buyers for items he had picked up while there.
It operates like a showroom, a treasure trove of beautiful ethnic wares, open 11am-4pm alongside an online store.
‘I think people love the excitement of the treasure hunt,’ explains Daniel, ‘and I got very familiar with this style of shopping in Morocco where you’d be brought off the beaten track to look at a rug. ‘I always thought, “Oh that would be so nice to be able to do that in Ireland”.
‘If you are looking for something unique for your home but you are not quite sure about shipping it home, or perhaps if you saw something online but feel you like you have to actually see the size of the item, feel the quality – well then that’s the beauty of Dar Sol.
‘I felt I wanted to make Dar Sol more of an experience – come out to see the produce, have a glass of mint tea, barter even, just how you would actually shop in Morocco.
‘It’s a bit like Sandyford or Naas, you always go out there to those places for homewares... I guess it’s not that different to coming here.’
In the collection you will find wonderful embroidered textiles and cushions with tasselled corners all produced by traditional weavers in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. There are luxurious cream bedthrows decorated with colourful pom-poms, a classic Moroccan trait, that help pull the throw flat when draped over beds and would make a beautiful wedding gift. Also popular are the Moroccanstyle leather pouffes which are handcrafted from natural goat skin leather and available in several colours including tan, earthy orange, Majorelle blue, and metallic silver and gold. They make for a striking bohemian accessory and can be used as a footstool, seating for your coffee table, or simply as a side stand. Ceramics include Moroccan Fez platters and colourful Berber Design bowls and platters, ideal to serve fruit or large salads and pretty tea pots and cup all handmade by Moroccan artisans utilizing techniques passed down from generation to generation. Moroccan homewares, however, are an easy sell on a sunny day but a bit like holiday booze, what works over there isn’t so hot in our usually dreary Irish climate, so how does he avoid being a cliché?
‘In being there, I’ve certainly brought things back from holiday what I thought would be gorgeous in my living room and the minute I put it in my own house it doesn’t have the same charm.
‘So I’ve been really conscious with this collection to pull my tastes back a little, still retaining the local styles and patterns but deliberately gearing it towards western homes which is why I have a lot of beiges, charcoals, greys, quite neutral colours.
‘I wanted it to be more timeless than holiday Morocco, if you are going to spend €600 on a rug it will stay in your space for 10/15 years and you will never grow tired of it.’
His one-off hand-woven rugs are the pricier pieces in the col-
lection and include the trendy black and white original sheep wool Beni Ourain kind made famous on Pinterest by Brooklyn hipster apartment dwellers.
‘They come from a traditional tribe called Beni Ourain,’ explains Daniel.
‘Each piece is handwoven and knotted by the Berber women, who usually make these over winter and it takes them two weeks per one metre squared.
‘The authenticity is that you can see that the designs is not just dyed but woven right through.
‘The beauty of investing in an original is that they increase in value over the years. In ten or twenty years they will become a vintage Beni Ourain rug and those fetch for up to €10,000.’
And Daniel’s Moroccan boutique is not just about beautiful designs. Brand transparency and ethics are very important to him and Dar Sol’s website really honours the craftsmen and women from whom they buy, exhibiting their portraits and studios on their news feed.
On buying excursions, they work with a local co-operative whose aim is to establish greater payment equality for the Berber women – and empowering local communities is a fundamental aspect of Daniel’s business which allows them to sell their product ethically here in Europe.
‘Traditionally a woman who spent her time weaving the rugs ... would get about 7% of the sale but with the cooperative they are paid per square metre so they now receive a lot more,’ explains Daniel. Dar Sol, Johnstown Road, Dún Laoghaire. Or visit Dar-Sol.com