The entire fifth floor of Rustan’s Makati has been transformed into a veritable, if air-conditioned, souk or marketplace as the country’s premier department store chain opened last Tuesday its month-long shopping event.

Artfully arranged in the space were Moroccan products for the home and garden. One area was devoted to apparel and accessories, including caftans, necklaces and colorful, tooled leather shoes.

Rustan’s vice president for home merchandising Marilen Tantoco herself chose the bulk of items on display, many of which were snapped up by eager shoppers on opening day.

Ceramic plates in vibrant colors and with intricate patterns, glass lamps, tiled fountains and mosaic garden tables were labeled “sold” even before the end of the sneak peek for “Le Coeur du Maroc” (The Heart of Morocco).

Festival

“The Moroccan embassy opened this year so we thought of holding a Moroccan festival,” Tantoco told Lifestyle. “We requested assistance from the Tourism Department, then began procuring items all over Morocco like Fez, Marrakech and Casablanca.”

Rustan’s chair and CEO Zenaida Tantoco and her nephew Donnie Tantoco’s soon-to-wed daughter Nicole were in charge of the fashion and chose an assortment of sequined or tasseled bags, shoes and brightly colored accessories.

This is Rustan’s first Moroccan festival in 20 years.

The Tantocos have a strong affinity to Morocco, which dates back to the ’80s when their parents, Gliceria Rustia Tantoco and Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco Sr., made the North African country their home.

Maritess Tantoco Enriquez, Rustan’s board member and sister of Zenaida and Marilen, remembers visiting her parents in Morocco when she lived in Italy.

“I love traveling there. I love the culture, the cuisine, its people, but mainly because Morocco is the country that helped and welcomed my parents,” Enriquez told Lifestyle. “So Morocco will always be close to my heart.”

Years after their mother passed away in 1994, Enriquez herself moved to Morocco and lived there for five years.

“I enjoyed going around the souks in the medina (old part of the city) because the people were kind and welcoming. Even if I wasn’t shopping for anything, they would ask me to sit down and drink hot mint tea with them. I didn’t speak the language, just English and broken French. I just felt very at home with them.”

She remembered how in some afternoons, she would see doughnuts being fried and the shopkeepers would give her some. “This is the type of doughnuts we sold in the early days of Rustan’s.”

Prized

When she resettled in Metro Manila in 2004, Enriquez brought her prized possessions from Morocco, several large paintings purchased from a Moroccan gallery. Three now occupy prominent places in the weekend home she shares with husband Renato and their beloved dogs.

There are no paintings for sale at “Le Coeur du Maroc,” but Marilen Tantoco made sure to include her new finds, including woven fabric poufs that can double as footrests or extra seating at home, decorative tassels, fabric throws and scented candles.

There is even a mini spice market near the popup Cafe Casablanca that sells paprika, cinnamon (in powder and bark forms), ground ginger and saffron—the last, priced at P495/gram.

Throughout August, there will be complementary activities and features in the store including henna painting (Aug. 1-7), calligraphy, and live music performances (Aug. 1-7).

In her opening remarks read by her son, SSI group president Anthony T. Huang, Zenaida said that what is being showcased at the Moroccan festival is “just a taste of this picturesque North African nation.”

“For many decades now, Rustan’s has had a friendly and enduring business relationship with Morocco. So it is a particular privilege for us to team up with the Moroccan embassy in staging this festival as a way to welcome the newly established Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco to the Philippines, led by his excellency Ambassador Mohammed Rida El Fassi and his wife, Madame Monia Zaoui,” Huang read. —CONTRIBUTED

HSBC Premier and Rustan’s FSP cardholders can participate in exclusive workshops with visiting Moroccan chef Moha Fedal on Aug. 7 and Happy Ongpauco-Tiu on Aug. 15. Visit Rustans.com.ph.