KCR Summer 2024 Magazine FINAL 1 - Flipbook - Page 33
Interview: Esin Güral Argat, founder
of JOALI & JOALI BEING
KCR recently caught up with philanthropist and inspirational
founder of acclaimed luxury resorts JOALI and JOALI BEING.
Can you tell us a little about your philanthropic journey when and why did you get into philanthropy?
Several years ago, I took a detour from my family9s company to follow
my passion for sustainability and female empowerment, and create a
unique hospitality experience with JOALI 3 a leading luxury hospitality
and lifestyle brand with two award-winning islands in the Maldives.
JOALI Maldives, a uniquely art-immersive resort opened in the remote
northern Raa Atoll of the Maldives in 2018, and JOALI BEING, a wellbeing retreat steeped in nature and centred around the joyful feeling of
weightlessness, opened in the same atoll in late 2021.
My personality and style are renected throughout JOALI, and I am
truly passionate about every single aspect of the resorts. Rooted in
supporting women, and with messages of sustainability and Maldivian
nature at their core, we are delighted to ofer the Maldives9 orst and only
immersive art resort, as well as the orst wellbeing island of its kind in
the Maldives. We work with passion and dedication to keep our promise
of 8responsible luxury9 and we are proud of the meaningful changes we
have been able to create for our guests, our employees, local communities, and the environment during our journey so far.
What causes particularly resonate with you and why?
I believe female empowerment is essential for sustainable development.
Existing data and experiences show that the empowerment of women
not only contributes to economic growth, but also has positive and
signiocant efects on raising future generations and family health. The
empowerment of women, their participation in the workforce and the
development of their self-conodence has the power to have incredible
results that will have a positive efect in every aspect. Working on this
issue in the Maldives is of huge importance to me.
At JOALI, we are strong believers that diversity is a valuable resource
3 we are particularly committed to gender equality and to the development of talented women in all its entities and at all levels of the
organisation. And as a modern-thinking and independently-owned
resort, we have the ability to think innovatively and revolutionarily.
We are delighted to have created a Leadership and Gender Diversity
Program in line with our commitment to the UN Women9s gender
equality campaign and JOALI is committed to supporting training for
girls in local schools, hiring local women in roles around the island, and
ensuring Joali9s team is structured in a way that encourages female team
members to grow and progress. JOALI Maldives and JOALI BEING,
in the past two consecutive years, have won the highest female ratio in
the hospitality industry awarded by the Ministry of Tourism in the Maldives, and this is an achievement I am proud of and strive to achieve.
Is this approach renected in the design of JOALI Maldives?
Found on the island of Muravandhoo, in the unspoilt Raa Atoll, this
approach is certainly renected in the sensual design concept of JOALI
Maldives. The resort is inspired strongly around being a design-focused
villa, creative, intelligent and charismatic woman, who has collected
one-of-a-kind pieces of artwork and furniture of the onest quality from
across the world and decorated her resort with attention-to-detail and
love. The hideaway has nature-inspired, feminine touches throughout
its villas 3 from rose gold bathroom taps with marble sinks, and ceiling
fans designed to look like the petals of a nower, to noral wall carvings,
and spacious dressing rooms with gowns featuring the birds and plants
seen on the island. The design renects diferent talents of being a woman, and gives nods to traditional Maldivian crafts juxtaposed with slick,
futuristic touches.
Were you also involved in the design and interior design of
JOALI BEING?
JOALI9s design is very personal to me. I took care of every aspect of it,
from its landscape and architecture to its interior decoration and wellbeing concepts. The JOALI brand is a mechanism that brings art, wellbe-
ing, nature and people together. And with this, the design is inspired by
a commitment to sustainability and a belief in joyful, immersive travel,
all with Maldivian nature at its core. JOALI BEING9s design translates
its brand philosophy, 8Joy in Weightlessness9, built according to the
biophilic principles, a scientioc system of integrating architecture and
design with nature with the goal of achieving harmony by eliminating
negative vibrations and enhancing the energy now of the island. I think
JOALI really stands out from other Maldivian resorts, with our attention
to detail design.
Why build/create JOALI in the Maldives and not a diferent
location in the world?
We set out to give a new brand a clear identity and a story, and JOALI
Maldives was our orst step on this path 3 a uniquely artistic island
focussed on sustainable luxury. I wanted to ond a special island that was
untouched and very remote 3 an authentic, unique and special place
for our guests to experience our brand. Maldives is a very characteristic place in this sense 3 it9s unlike anywhere else. It is a place that
fascinates with its beauty, and also has an all-season appeal. I found
Muravandhoo island in the remote northern Raa Atoll and fell in
love. From there, we decided to purchase neighbouring islands in order
to preserve their natural environment, and so JOALI BEING was created on the secluded natural island of Bodufushi 3 a truly transformative
destination that aims to give and revitalise. To me, luxury means the 8joy
of living9 which is renected in every aspect of JOALI 3 from the inspiring
power of art to the life-changing gifts of nature, we celebrate life in all its
vibrant glory.
How do you feel you have made a diference? Can you share
some of the projects you have worked/are working on?
When designing JOALI Maldives, the building was designed around the
island9s trees to preserve the island9s native vegetation. This conscious
decision saved more than 1000 original palm trees on the island today.
Furthermore, in 2016, as a result of an extreme El Niño event, reefs in
the Maldives and around the world experienced high ocean temperatures for an extended period of time. As a devastating result, up to 95%
of corals in the Maldives were damaged, leading to mass coral deaths.
We created a Reef Restoration Programme at JOALI to help grow the island9s house reef by growing coral fragments in an underwater nursery,
before eventually transplanting them onto the main reef.
Other examples of what we are doing today to implement sustainable
tourism include ofsetting all carbon emissions from guest accommodation, we have our own compactor to compact tins and papers, a
wood chipper that helps us create our own natural fertilizer, a rocket
composter for all wet rubbish generated, a desalinating water system to
create our own fresh water bottled in glass, a rain harvesting process for
landscaping and our menus are all Fairtrade stamped.
www.joali.com/joali-maldives/
https://www.joali.com/joali-being/
Visit the KCR website for the full interview.
