Finolhu, a Seaside Collection Resort and the Maldives’ first Design Hotels™ member, has announced the launch of “A Year In Colour” Art & Design Year 2026, a year-long celebration positioned as the first initiative of its kind in the Maldives, designed to blend creativity, culture, and island inspiration through immersive artist residencies, collaborations, and interactive guest experiences that unite art, design, and barefoot luxury. Curated around Finolhu’s distinctive aesthetic, where bold colour, sustainable design, and relaxed luxury converge, the programme will welcome a rotating roster of internationally acclaimed artists, designers, and creatives throughout 2026, each drawing inspiration from the island’s natural beauty and Maldivian heritage to produce original works and participatory moments that invite guests into the creative process. Running from January through December, the calendar spans diverse markets including the U.S., U.K., Germany, Russia, the Middle East, and Asia, with each residency lasting one to three weeks and featuring hands-on workshops, design sessions, and intimate exhibitions that connect art, travel, and community in a resort setting that continues to differentiate itself through design-led storytelling and experience-driven hospitality.
The confirmed 2026 programme opens from January 4 to 17 with U.S.-based artist Sarah Stieber, known for her electrifying use of colour and dynamic figurative style that centres empowerment, positivity, and energy, setting the tone for the year’s creative journey through Tape Painting Workshops where guests use vibrant vinyl tape to build crisp, geometric compositions layered with expressive colour, in sessions open to all ages and skill levels and inspired by the island’s tropical palette and ocean hues. From February 17 to 22, Singapore-based pastry artist Chef Janice Wong will bring her globally recognised edible art and multi-sensory approach to design to Finolhu, leading immersive, hands-on chocolate art workshops for kids, teens, and families where participants paint, mould, and sculpt with chocolate to create edible works of art, linked to a central installation theme that interprets Hanifaru Bay and highlights the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status of the atoll through figurines that merge creativity, taste, and imagination. The programme continues from March 5 to 18 with Hamburg-based visual artist Anna Bochkova, whose multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, ceramics, papier-mache, drawing, and installation, with work that explores themes of care, utopia, memory, and belonging; workshop details for this residency are to be announced. From March 26 to April 15, the Art & Design Year will also spotlight local creativity with Maldives-based artist Hussain Ihfal Ahmed, widely known as Iffa, celebrated for his innovative use of oil, watercolour, sand, and signature coffee paintings, and recognised as a Visit Maldives 2025 Ambassador and National Award winner; during his residency he will lead Acrylic Art and Coffee Painting Workshops, including an introduction to creating warm, textured artworks using instant coffee as a primary medium, delivering a hands-on, relaxing creative experience connected to Maldivian cultural and natural surroundings.
Across May to September, Finolhu’s in-house creative team and emerging Maldivian artists will collaborate on projects inspired by sustainability, community, and the ocean, including work led by Finolhu Resident Artist Md. Nakib Rahman, a Bangladeshi ceramicist with more than seven years of experience known for a meditative approach to wheel throwing and pinch technique, and for “Earth & Ocean” workshops that invite guests to slow down and craft organic, sea-inspired vessels reflecting the natural rhythm of the Maldives. This period also features Sri Lankan-based artist Yashika Pitigala, whose expressive practice across acrylics, watercolours, mixed media, and polymer jewellery design draws from coastal storytelling, guiding guests through her “Moments in Motion” workshops by the lagoon focused on mindfulness and intuitive creativity, translating the movement of waves and shifting light into flowing works of art. Later in the year, from October 21 to 31, British designer Matthew Williamson will bring his signature maximalist use of colour, pattern, and print to Finolhu through an exclusive collaboration and guest workshop, demonstrating how to paint one of his favourite motifs, the palm tree, through an abstract, contemporary style influenced by nature and the local landscape. From November 3 to 13, Russia- and France-based contemporary artist Yakov Khomich will lead three immersive two-hour masterclasses focused on painting and sketching within Finolhu’s natural environment, guiding guests through expressive techniques for capturing movement, emotion, and the play of light across island landscapes, with sessions designed for all skill levels and balancing instruction with open exploration. The year culminates from December 20 to January 3 with Spanish-Australian artist and designer Araceli Adams of Casa Adams Fine Wares, a regenerative ceramics studio known for handmade, meticulously hand-painted porcelain inspired by Indo-Pacific biodiversity; Adams will host hands-on porcelain painting sessions where guests paint a half-baked porcelain platter pre-sketched with local marine life such as rays, reef fish, corals, and turtles, creating a meaningful keepsake while learning about the species encountered during their stay.
Finolhu’s Art & Design Year is anchored by the resort’s Art Lab, a barnacle-inspired creative sanctuary designed by KölorGroup Singapore and Muza Lab London in collaboration with Asali Bali, which since its debut in 2024 has become a hub for creativity in the Maldives by hosting classes in painting, fabric dyeing, pottery, and resin art, and will now serve as a home for residencies, exhibitions, and sustainability-focused workshops using natural and recycled materials found throughout the island. The resort describes the programme as a natural extension of its long-standing commitment to creativity, with Steven Phillips, General Manager of Finolhu and .Here Baa Atoll, Seaside Collection Resorts, stating that as the Maldives’ first Design Hotels member, Finolhu has always championed creativity as a cornerstone of its identity, and that the Art & Design Year celebrates design as a living, evolving conversation between guests, the environment, and the global creative community. Positioned within Finolhu’s evolving “Kaleidoscope of Life” concept that celebrates colour, connection, and creativity, the initiative reinforces the resort’s identity as a design-forward destination where architecture, art, and nature exist in joyful harmony, while offering global travellers a fresh reason to experience Baa Atoll through culturally rich, participatory programming that complements Finolhu’s relaxed luxury and the Maldives’ enduring appeal as a world-class escape.
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