In a world where instant gratification has become the order of the day, Marrakech-based LRNCE has built global success on just the opposite: slow, intentional making that shifts the focus away from relentless productivity towards designs that restore.
Founded by Belgium-born Laurence Leenaert and led with her husband Ayoub Boualam, LRNCE began as a small ceramics project back in 2013. Since then, the studio has expanded to a multidisciplinary design practice, shaping objects, interiors and experiences around the globe.
Much of LRNCE’s success has stemmed from their ability to view time-honoured Moroccan craft traditions through a contemporary lens — something that’s seen partnerships with a variety of well-respected brands, including French perfumers Maison D’ORSAY, Australian fashion brand ALÉMAIS and Design Hotels’ Parīlio in Paros, flourish.
“We began with textiles and ceramics, and everything else followed organically. Today, we collaborate with leading design studios on bespoke projects across the world,” explains Leenaert.
Where others may have capitalised on this international renown to expand and produce more, the team at LRNCE has intentionally maintained the intimacy of practice from which their unique design language developed.
“Over the years we have developed close bonds with our artisans and their surrounding communities, learning from each other as we create together,” says Leenaert. “We start from the artisan’s knowledge and techniques, then bring our own design sensibility to the conversation. It’s a genuine dialogue rather than an imposition.”
This collaborative approach comes to bear not only in the motifs and designs that adorn the objects LRNCE produces, but also in their shapes and forms. Every piece, whether a hand-painted ceramic, a carved wooden chair or a plaster vessel, carries the visible trace of its maker.
“We work with raw materials including iron, clay, plaster and wood, and we always let the hand of the maker remain visible,” notes Leenaert. “We have never introduced a process that removes the human hand from the work. The pace is slower and the work is harder, but it protects everything that makes LRNCE worth wanting.”
As design sensibilities shift from the formality that defined so many of the last decade’s spaces and towards those that feel calmer and more restorative, LRNCE’s approach has earned them plenty of international recognition — including being named Decorex 2026 Designer of the Year.
With their intimate scale, collaborative ethos and refusal to sacrifice craft for speed, LRNCE embodies the principles at the heart of the Decorex 2026 theme, The Soft Life. According to Leenaert, the recognition feels less like validation and more like confirmation of something they’ve known all along: that slowing down doesn’t mean falling behind.
Decorex 2026: The Soft Life
The Soft Life recognises a deliberate recalibration in design, a shift toward spaces that restore rather than demand. See how LRNCE and other designers are prioritising this sensory comfort and beauty of ease at Decorex 2026.
Decorex Cape Town will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from June 25-28 and is open from 10am to 6pm daily.
Decorex Joburg will take place at the Sandton Convention Centre from July 30 to August 2, and is open from 10am to 6pm daily.
For tickets and trade registration, visit decorex.co.za.
