Nestled on the north coastline of the Dominican Republic, where the jungle meets the sea is a slice of paradise called Playa Grande Beach Club. Our Marketing Manager Mel Carrero found this dream location on Instagram years ago, and has been suggesting it for every event and shoot since… so as soon as we saw the oceanic, island inspired prints that flow throughout Seashell, we knew it was a match made in heaven.
The mix of Dominican architecture, colonial design, island elements and curated bohemian vintage styling created the ideal hideaway for us to escape to with some of our long time friends and muses for a few days.
We arrived to a pastel sunset sky and were in the ocean before our bags were even out of the car (not quite, but you get the point!). There’s nothing better than diving under a wave, eyes wide open and coming up to see a pink and lilac coloured sky. The ocean was wild with energy, but the warmest water we’ve ever swum in, so late night and early morning swims became a regular ritual during our few days in paradise.
The first day the skies opened and it rained on and off, but everyone was grateful for the opportunity to slow down and just take in the beauty and relaxed pace of the Beach Club. The space is designed with groups in mind, so there are so many places to lounge and get lost in conversation, while truly embracing island time.
With such an influential and amazing group of people all in one room, we really wanted to delve a little deeper into our vision to become the world’s most inspiring and sustainable fashion and lifestyle brand, so during dinner we encouraged heartfelt conversation through conversation cards. (This is something our dear friend Zoe Gameau facilitated for us at our Climate Council retreat earlier this year, and we love how it inspired ever-so important and thought provoking conversations around climate change – save this idea for your next dinner party!)
We asked questions like “What are your biggest challenges in living sustainably? Who or what inspires you right now? What sustainable habits are you committing to in 2020? If there was one piece of advice you could give your 18 year old self what would it be? ~ and it was amazing to hear the diverse range of responses our group had to share. We laughed, cried, poured out our souls, and felt so much more connected, full of hope and inspired after connecting on a deeper level in this way.
The Beach Club felt like a fantasy land that we never wanted to leave, but we’d heard tales of waterways meeting lush jungles from the locals – so on the second day, we ventured out to a nearby town to explore. There are not many foreigners around this area, and we loved driving through narrow streets of authentic brightly coloured homes lined with tropical fruit stands on the way to Laguna Gri Gri.
Once we got there we took wooden boats through the mangroves to an empty cove where we swam and sunbaked for a while. This part of the world is so incredibly beautiful and we were so surprised to have all the beaches to ourselves!
Back at the beach club as the sun started to fade, we got ready for one last night in this magical land (it was all so perfect we kept thinking someone would wake us from this beautiful dream!). That night we gathered for dinner beneath the stars and on the sand, nestled between palm trees and with the ocean as our soundtrack. There’s something so special about eating outside, and as the sky turned from pink to indigo, and we sipped on fresh passionfruit mojito’s we knew this was one of those memories we’d want to etch into our memories for the rest of our days.
Words by our Lulu
Photos by Mel Carrero and Karissa Sparke
With love to our Playa Grande posse
Leonie Hanne
Tezza
Spirited Pursuit
Jamie Kidd
Pretty Frowns
Quigley
Olive Cooke
Lili
From Playa Grande Beach Club