Silke at La Granja de Ibiza
Before finishing the first glass of wine, the food is already lively . A score of people chat happily in the shade of the spacious porch of a country house immersed in the forest. Some go in flip-flops, others in heels, others barefoot. We are in The farm , at some uncertain point on the outskirts of the little town of San Mateo , in the rural heart of that other Ibiza outside the clubs and apartments on the beach. The place feels so out of it that even the GPS gets lost.
On the guest list are start-up founders, festival promoters, influencers, Google advisors, TED speakers, artists, film directors, Silke, chef Boris Buono... There is talk of travel, food, science, the conquest of space and books . Although many of us do not know each other, it shows that we are among friends. If you are here it is because this is also your home.
Classic, sober, natural decoration
Our host, ** Claus Sendlinger ,** is one of those who prefers to go barefoot. He dresses comfortably: wide pants and a worn-out shirt for Caravana, the artisanal fabric firm of some friends from Tulum, the Mexican Caribbean town where he lived until a few months ago, before moving here, to Ibiza.
He is the founder and president of **Design Hotels** and the main person involved in the La Granja project. La Granja Ibiza is the new adventure of Design Hotels, a brand that brings together one of the most interesting collections of independent hotels on the market. It has been ahead of hotel trends for more than a decade. With 276 members , Design especially values criteria such as the capacity of its hotels to be meeting points and creation of the local culture and the passion and madness of its owners.
La Granja swimming pool: all the essence of Design Hotels
While we wait for those who are missing, a group has come to greet **Coco (Chanel) **, the nice Ibizan black sow that guards the organic farm that gives its name to the place, and to browse through the rooms. Polished cement floors, empty walls, farming implements conceived as pieces of decoration... The austere but refined rusticity creates a calm, almost monastic atmosphere. It has a timeless style made to last. Or at least, to always be beautiful.
But La Granja Ibiza is not just another hotel . In fact, it is not even a hotel as such, but a club, a refuge for the recreation of its members in nature: the 'friends of the farmer', Friends of a farmer, an association dedicated to the cultivation of the arts and sensitivity around the earth. Thus, apart from investigating the possibilities of biodynamic agriculture, since the opening of La Granja at the end of May, Friends of a farmer has organized healing music concerts, full moon ceremonies, conferences, rituals, cinema under the stars and lucid sundays, which are sometimes also Mondays, with meditation and electronic music. Encounters between kindred spirits. The fee to join the club – €200 per season – gives the right, among other things, to sit at communal tables, to share healthy banquets –and conversations–, and to participate in the program of activities. And participating also means proposing, contributing ideas, friends, contacts.
Another option to join, even if it's just for a day , it is book one of the ten rooms at La Granja . In front of the porch, beyond the pool, the view sweeps the pine forest to San Antonio. at this distance, the bay looks idyllic, and even more so during sunset. But that will be later.
Andy
Today's event is a meal for 22 people that will evolve into a party – with more guests and music from the resident DJ, Frank Rubcke – around the original mezcal bar that has been built under the shelter of one of the most powerful trees on the property. Claus listens carefully to Sandra Benbeniste, the enthusiastic executive director of **Ibiza Preservation Fund (IPF) ** , an organization dedicated to developing and supporting conservation initiatives for the island's most fragile natural ecosystems. For this reason, at La Granja they have prepared some splendid baskets with freshly picked fruit and vegetables from the garden for guests who want to buy them. The proceeds will go to the foundation..
The fruit and vegetable baskets of La Granja
Those same gifts from the earth color the two large communal tables: tomato and arugula salads with their flower, cold beetroot and carrot soup, cocas de escalivada, strawberries... Simple preparations and presentations ready to 'instagram' . They are the result of the joint work of **Andy Szymanowicz,** a Hudson Valley farmer aware that the health of the fields is as important as that of the food, and the Chef Jose Catriman .
Claus is considered a hospitality guru , a visionary – and even more so now, since he recharges himself with superpowers in Burning Man , the famous and unclassifiable annual festival that brings together hippies, millionaires and artists around an ephemeral city in the Nevada desert–. He knows better than anyone that in this business it is no longer enough just to sell beds and a trendy bar. See hotels as meeting and enrichment possibilities , places where things happen, where things are learned. “If Ibiza does not need something, it is precisely another hotel” , he recognizes me with complicity. “That's why this is another concept”, he continues with a lighted look. "You may have noticed that The farm It is not a place for those who ask for bottles of champagne, but for those who appreciate smoked mezcal and good conversations”. Claus is interested in the mind . The possibilities of yours and the synergies with those of others. And what better than a place like La Granja for it?
Chef Jose Catriman
Because his idea for Design is not only to collect special accommodations for special people, but to create a community around them. A community of expert travelers (and awake) and tremendously well connected, global nomads, intellectually and spiritually curious , that what they seek is to meet and participate, be inspired and motivated. And, in that sense, La Granja is the first headquarters for this great community . Something that has already begun to be sensed in the ** Papaya Plaza in Tulum **, a hotel that opened as a pop-up only for one season and it is perennial, and in collaboration with the Skorpios beach club of the San Giorgio hotel, in Mykonos, and which now continues with a new hotel consisting of five rooms, again in Tulum. A laboratory in which to investigate concepts such as ‘collaborative thinking’ and also where to experiment with temporary societies, organize meetings and do the agrotourism that he always dreamed of.
a place of conversation
Eternal desktops, days outdoors, conversations that lead one into another, going to bed at so many, getting up when you wake up... The melodies of Raz Ohara, a peculiar experimental musician who synthesizes organic and electronic sounds, accompany the setting of the moon. His words seem to summarize the aspirations of La Granja: “After all, I just want to find peace. But not by forcing it, but by creating a place where things can be shared… the things that still matter to us.”
It's always nice to wake up knowing there's no time for breakfast ; even more so in a hungover midday. Also check that, despite being a place that encourages interaction, there are spaces, and many, for solitude. None of the three people we met in the pool exchanged more words than necessary. Sometimes, greater intimacy is established in silence. It's time to lose yourself in the sound of the cicada, to fall asleep confidently anywhere. we are among friends.
Silke at La Granja de Ibiza
_ The Ibiza Farm , A Design Project (Ctra. Forada a San Mateo, km 1; tel. 615 406 588; membership fee €200 per season; HD: from €350) ._
*This report was published in the 99th issue of Condé Nast Traveler Magazine (October). Subscribe to the printed edition (**11 printed issues and a digital version for €24.75, by calling 902 53 55 57 or from our website**) and enjoy free access to the digital version of Condé Nast Traveler for iPad. The October issue of Condé Nast Traveler is available in its digital version to enjoy on your preferred device.