Patina Maldives, Fari Islands has partnered with designer and artist Sean Wotherspoon on a colourful creative programme centred on a guest-made ceramic sculpture for the surrounding reef.
Running until 12 September 2026, the collaboration includes an exclusive capsule collection and a temporary transformation of the resort’s Fari Art Atelier. Its centrepiece, Respect the Reef, is a large ceramic fish covered with individually glazed scales and designed to become part of the marine environment.
The project began during the second Fari Islands Festival, held from 13 to 15 August. Wotherspoon created the collective installation and designed the festival’s official merchandise, drawing on his familiar use of vivid colour and reworked vintage materials.
Respect the Reef moves art beneath the water
Located in the North Malé Atoll, Patina Maldives is surrounded by the coral ecosystem that shaped the collaboration. Wotherspoon spent time exploring the local reefs with Nihaan, the resort’s resident marine biologist, and learning about Patina’s existing conservation work.
Those conversations led to Respect the Reef, which adapts two practices already used at the resort. Patina’s ceramic coral workshops invite guests to make pieces for underwater placement, while its submerged frames provide surfaces where coral can attach and grow.
For Wotherspoon’s collaboration, the conventional frame was reimagined as a sculptural fish. Its body was covered with individual ceramic scales made and decorated by festival guests, making the final work a collective piece.
Colour provided the main departure from Patina’s usual workshops. The resort’s ceramic coral pieces are traditionally left unglazed, but guests working on Respect the Reef were invited to paint and glaze their scales. Each contributor could choose their own colours and patterns before the separate pieces were assembled.
The finished sculpture was created as part of the three-day festival and has since been submerged in the waters surrounding Patina Maldives, according to the resort. Coral is intended to grow across the structure as its ceramic surface changes underwater.
The sculpture’s development as a marine structure will take place over time. Patina has not published its dimensions or a projected coral-growth rate; the work has been conceived as an evolving part of the reef.
Sean Wotherspoon brings vintage colour to the Fari Art Atelier
Inside Patina Maldives, the Fari Art Atelier has been temporarily arranged to present Wotherspoon’s creative practice. The installation combines original artworks and vintage material with collected objects, allowing guests to explore the references behind the reef project.
The accompanying capsule collection was created exclusively for the resort. It includes garments and accessories inspired by the colours and textures of the Maldives, alongside one-of-one vintage Hawaiian shirts and Carhartt shorts individually reworked with Wotherspoon’s artwork.
Wotherspoon’s approach gives existing objects a different identity through material, colour and altered details. At the Atelier, that process is presented across wearable pieces and artworks, while the ceramic fish extends those choices underwater.
“I work in colour, I work in texture, I work in materials,” Wotherspoon said in the collaboration announcement. His tactile approach is visible in the contrast between robust workwear, lightweight Hawaiian shirts and the glossy ceramic scales made for the sculpture.
The Fari Art Atelier takeover remains open until 12 September, giving guests a limited period to see the capsule collection and supporting material together. Respect the Reef will continue changing beneath the water after the indoor installation closes.
The collaboration began at the Fari Islands Festival
The Fari Islands Festival is an annual programme spanning music, art, food, wellbeing and nature. Its second edition brought invited creatives and hospitality partners to the archipelago for a series of performances, dinners, workshops and ocean experiences.
Actor Rosamund Pike was the headline figure for 2026, while musicians included Sebastian Tellier, DJ FS Green and NOTEP. The food programme featured WAGYUMAFIA and Chef Samuel Lee of the Parisian neo-bistrot SENsation, with further experiences led by wellness brands and drinks specialists.
Marine activities were delivered with the Olive Ridley Project and Dive Butlers Ocean Excursion. That conservation element placed Wotherspoon’s installation within a wider festival programme focused on the waters around the islands.
The collaboration also reflects the festival’s emphasis on participation. Guests contributed to the ceramic fish: their painted scales became its exterior, with variations in colour preserved when the sculpture moved underwater.
Patina Maldives pairs creativity with its environmental programme
Patina Maldives is the first resort from Patina Hotels and Resorts, the luxury brand owned by Capella Hotel Group. Reached by a 45-minute speedboat journey from Malé, it offers contemporary studios and villas made with natural materials, alongside 13 dining venues serving everything from Nordic-Japanese dishes to plant-based menus.
The resort positions Respect the Reef within its broader sustainability programme. Patina says food waste is processed in on-island biodigesters to create organic fertiliser, which supports pesticide-free produce grown for its kitchens.
Energy and construction measures form another part of that programme. The company says prefabrication reduced energy use during construction by about 12 per cent, while PEFC-certified timber was used across the resort. Reusable bottles were supplied to the 1,600 workers involved in building the property, removing single-use plastic from the construction site from the outset.
During daylight hours, Patina Maldives says it operates entirely on solar power. Its system comprises 2,994 kWp of panels installed across villa and restaurant rooftops, supported by a dedicated land-based array to reduce reliance on diesel.
Respect the Reef adds a participatory artwork to those established measures. Guests staying before 12 September can visit Wotherspoon’s temporary Atelier installation, while the ceramic fish now remains beneath the surrounding waters as a structure intended for coral attachment and growth.
