For the largest islands, one has two options: (a) motorised buggy, or (b) pedal bike. LUX South Ari Atoll offers motorised bikes. Electric so you are not going to get gangs of rumbling bikers tearing down your villa path. For hire at £50/day
Best of the Maldives: Balloon Crib – Joali
Joali’s kids club has the most whimsically decorated beds for little ones as each crib is designed to resemble a hot air balloon. Up, up and away to the land of nod.
Best of the Maldives: Room Decorating Instagram – Kuramathi
Kuramathi’s Waheed Saamid pentathlete of a room decorator. He not only pioneered a medium I’ve not seen in my decades of visits, he’s mastered all of its fundamental disciplines:
- Petals
- Wording (both cut and formed)
- Towel sculpture
- Bubble Bath
- Path/Floor messages (pioneer)
I caught up with him and he shared a bit about his background:
- “I have started room decorations as I began my career as a villa Attendant. Since then I have learned and improving my skills. I’m a self taught decorative. During this journey of a villa Attendant, I have met many creative colleagues in room decorating. I get ideas from my friends and through the internet. Mostly I love doing different types of leaf decorations. Room decoration is an important element of Housekeeping service, to demonstrate my skills and give our guests a little gesture of that we care them.”
His Instagram feed is the most diverse collection of works and I highly recommend following him for your own daily dose of decorating.
Best of the Maldives: Path Greetings – Kuramathi
All of the world has its eye on the “path to the White House” this week, but Waheed Saamid, room decorator extraordinaire is focused on the path to your villa. I thought that I had seen all the variations on custom room decorating – towels, flowers, bed, coral pieces, bath. When I came across his Instagram feed, I saw sterling examples of all of those. But I was also struck by his innovating thinking outside the box of the villa itself with his walkway decoration made of artistically sprinkled sand.
Best of the Maldives: Wood Ends – Soneva Fushi
Soneva Fushi has pioneered the design style of Swiss Family Robinson chic in the Maldives, but perhaps the acme of this arboreal aesthetic is its Villa 37. While the rough trunks are standard elements throughout Soneva, Villa 37 take the timber to a new dimension with a tapestry of cross sections forming the ceiling and various highlights.
Best of the Maldives: Art Map – Joali
For many maps are quite practical items, but I’ve always been captivated by their aesthetics. Capturing a sliver of the world in a useful snapshot from a birds eye view. No surprise that the art immersion resort of Joali even turned their creative eye to a map of their art collection. How apropos that the map of art installations be a work of art itself.
Best of the Maldives: Resort Scarves – Coco Prive
Another resort featuring Oevaali’s work is Coco Prive who have commissioned an exclusive silk-screened scarf for their guests. So exclusive, thst Oevaali won’t release any more than a peek of what the scarf’s artistic design is (see above).
Best of the Maldives: Local Jewellery – Kuredu
If you are looking for a pink accessory for October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month), then one of the most enchanting examples of Maldives themes jewellery I come across is Kuredu’s collection of Oevaali. The manta above swirls as gracefully as its aquatic inspiration. Oevaali are a local Maldivian artist studio who do painting as well (see bottom).
Best of the Maldives: Groyne Pool – Four Seasons Kuda Huraa
Traditionally, groynes (artificial promontories built to inhibit erosion by disrupting the currents which wash away the island) have been quite crude functional affairs, but in recent years resorts have been turning eye sores to sights for sore eyes with an array of décor and uses. Four Seasons Kuda Huraa’s pool featured in Instagrammer Miss Angie Villa’s post is so similar to one in design, that I think it sets the blueprint for someone converting a proper groyne into this design.
Best of the Maldives: Coffee Cafe – LUX North Male Atoll
International Coffee Day. And really who else could we feature but those boss baristas at LUX (this is the 6th “Best of the Maldives” recognition for LUX just in the area of “coffee”?
This time a shout out to their Coffee Cafe. Take-away coffee from 6:00 am through 10:30 am. This is just perfect for me. I often get up early for the quiet morning time to catch up on some email and web surfing. I like to leave the villa because my shuffling around can disturb Lori who likes to savour her opportunity for a lie-in. But I do want a coffee as soon as I get up. I’d rather not go into a restaurant, but just find some quiet corner of the island to stretch out on. LUX North Male Atoll was about the first island I could easily do this with their take-away service. Also, the more insulate, tall thermal cup keep the coffee hotter than a conventional ceramic cup (and the serving is larger too).
And extra bonus, the café offers 4 types of sweetener (see photo below). If this seems like a trivial detail, then you are not a sweet tooth aficionado like me.
