Barefoot luxury - soneva Fushi, Maldives

u

Celebrating 25 years of Barefoot Luxury

As Soneva Fushi celebrates 25 years as a sustainable pioneer, founder Sonu Shivdasani looks back at how it all started – and how Soneva’s innovative approach to barefoot luxury is still making waves

“I was completely blown away. I’d never seen anything like it.”

This was Sonu’s first glimpse of the Maldives, flying in with his then-girlfriend, Eva, in 1987. They never looked back. In 1995 - 25 years ago - they opened Soneva Fushi, the very first luxury resort in the Maldives. Things were very different back then.

“There was little development. The handful of resorts were very basic, with plastic chairs, strip lighting, salt water showers - and all the food came out of tins”.

But it was the landscape that captivated Sonu and Eva, who married soon after.

“The first time I put my head in the water I was staggered. The colour, the coral, the fish - it was like being in an aquarium.”

u

Sonu and Eva fell in love with the Maldives, and returned time and again, but they soon became disillusioned. “We no longer wanted to support the resorts because we could see they weren’t sustainable. Coral was being taken from the reefs to build villas, and the couple felt they could do something different. ”They were right. “Malé, the capital, was tiny in those days, just a few buildings and a handful of cars. The biggest building belonged to the government. I turned up in my shorts and polo shirt and asked if I could lease an island,” says Sonu, with a laugh. It would take several years before the couple received their wish – but it was worth the wait. They discovered Kunfunadhoo, an unspoilt, uninhabited tropical island far from the established resorts, in the pristine Baa Atoll, and began work on Soneva Fushi.

A NEW STYLE OF LUXURY

“It was obvious what needed to be done. We needed to build sustainably, to protect the coral and maintain the vegetation. We needed to make the menus as fresh and local as possible, and to limit and treat our waste. And we needed to get rid of shoes!” That ethos of sustainability – and of chic, barefoot style – has been there from the very beginning. “The idea of luxury back then was formality and fuss. It was dressing up for dinner, but we wanted to move away from all that.” Soneva Fushi introduced a “No news, no shoes” philosophy, encouraging guests to disconnect from technology, kick off their shoes and feel the sand between their toes. It struck a chord with guests who were seeking a more authentic, relaxed way to holiday – a way that was also sustainable and had a positive impact.

u

Sonu and Eva also introduced the idea of Barefoot Butlers, a bespoke one-on-one butler service for every villa. “We felt we needed to create a personalised service from the start,” says Sonu, and it was those connections between the team and the guests that further solidified Soneva as a brand that was making waves.

Soneva’s tremendous success has allowed it to grow. Next came Soneva Gili (which has since been sold) in 2000 with the first overwater villas in the Maldives, and Soneva Kiri on Thailand’s rainforest swathed island of Koh Kood opened in 2009. The ethos remained the same: remote areas, extraordinary natural beauty, and a sustainable thread that runs through everything.

Soneva Villas followed, offering the chance to purchase a private residence in the sublime surrounds of a Soneva resort, and in 2015, Soneva in Aqua launched, a 23-metre luxury yacht with the experience of a villa at sea. 2016 saw the next Soneva resort open in the Maldives: Soneva Jani in the beautiful Noonu Atoll, a 5.6 km private lagoon with overwater villas (complete with signature waterslides) and island villas with endless views of sparkling turquoise.

Most recently, Soneva unveiled the new Water Retreats at Soneva Fushi and measuring 584 sqm./6,286 sqft, are the largest in the world.

NEXT UP:

Two more resorts are scheduled to join the Soneva family next year – one in the Maldives, and another on a jungly island in Okinawa, Japan’s tropical south. What ties all the resorts together is the unwavering commitment to what Sonu and Eva call the SLOW LIFE concept, where incredible experiences create unforgettable memories, all with a minimum impact on the natural world. As well as eliminating plastics, introducing water filtration systems and cultivating organic gardens at each resort, other innovations include building in-resort observatories and glass-upcycling studios. The latest scheme is Namoona, which provides funding, expertise and coordination for waste management systems that clean up local islands.

For more information about Soneva visit: www.soneva.com

u