The Island
The thought of living on an island has an exotic aftertaste to it, the idea of holiday and freedom and the thrilling excitement of being stranded on another world.
Ibiza might enclose of all these feelings and is definitely known as the epitome of a free and non judging space where everyone can be who and how he needs to be.
We used to come on holiday every summer and it always ended up to be the best week of the year, with the feet in the sand, strolling from beach to beach, exploring new places, visiting all the villages and enjoying the food and good vibes. The occasional party was also not out of the question, but we feel that the clubbing scene on Ibiza is overrated and unfortunately during the years became more and more superficial and lost its soul.
We decide to move on the Island after living in different cities, and always longing for that feeling of never-ending summer and wanting to live everyday as if a weight was lifted from your chest, which is the sensation an Ibiza addict has every time she or he gets here.
How could it be, we thought, if every evening after work you could just go and sit on the beach listening to music, drinking a sweet sangria and watching the sunset?
Well, it took us a few years on the Island to find out… Not only did we decide to leave our jobs (again) and our lovely little apartment in London to move to an island based on a seasonal kind of work, but we thought we put some more adrenaline on that and decided to open a clothing store to join our common passion and fulfill our dreams just a little more. Of course it took us a while to find a place to stay as rents are not low even for a whole year rental, as summer rents are the main and thoroughly exploited income on the Island and demand is extremely high. On top of that the adjustment back to a “mediterranean” bureaucracy was also more than fun!
Anyway we ended up working 14 hour days in the shop, celebrating good days and finding consolation in some more celebration for less good days and not getting one day off for a whole summer. Not really what we had in mind.
As we could have imagined, living on Ibiza is not the same as coming here on holiday. You are on the other side… At the beginning you are the one working while everybody else is enjoying themselves. You are the one staying in the not so nice apartment paying a crazy rent while the others enjoy the nice villa with a view.
You kind of start asking yourself if it’s really worth it, all that sacrifice, all that effort. And then the first week of November, while the whole of Europe is getting used to the autumn rain and wind, you sit on a beach with a cool mojito in your hands, get up to take a swim in the turquoise waters and everything is forgotten.
That winter we travelled to Bali to produce our first collection. Again, an Island… beautiful, wild, fascinating, so different and so familiar. The following summers became less stressful and we decided, once a week, to treat ourselves with an “ Ibiza holiday” kind of day, after all according to our original plan we were meant to enjoy sunset drinks every night after work, right? So at least we could make that dream reality a few days here and there!
Who knows Ibiza as an insider says that the Island is tough, she might embrace you or reject you, but for sure she tests you. You are forced to face your true self, your needs and your limits and the answer will wait for you on the other side. When you are in a place where everybody believes that everything is possible and acts accordingly, balance is precious.
We feel we came out of this rite of passage and are now deserving the ease of choice and are hoping to strengthen a long lasting relationship with this special Island, believed to be home of the third most magnetic point on Earth (after the North Pole and the Bermuda Triangle). Could this be the reason why, even in her difficult days, she is irresistible?
