Long before Silkana had a name, my life was already shaped by two things: making and moving.

I grew up between Madrid and Ibiza — an island where people from everywhere seemed to meet — and started travelling abroad from a very young age.

Fashion came naturally. I studied pattern cutting and garment making before moving back to Madrid to study Fashion Design at IED.

I created my first label, Hell & Flowers, opening a small store at Madrid’s Mercado de Fuencarral and producing knits, silks and handmade pieces in small workshops.

After a few years running my own label, I moved on to work for an international fashion company, designing eight sportswear collections a year and travelling between trade fairs and factories around the world.

I learned how to make more. I realised I wanted to make less — and make it matter more.

So I left. And I travelled.

Around that time, I lost my friend Ofi. Losing someone so full of life far too soon changed the way I understood time. Life doesn’t wait. Dreams are not meant to be postponed.

I kept travelling, spending six months in the Dominican Republic before my journey eventually brought me to Bali. It was 2009.

Bali was full of young people from all over the world, but the swimwear I found there felt like it belonged to another time.

After six months living in the Caribbean, I saw it immediately. Something was missing. And I knew how to make it.

I began designing alongside local women, experimenting with shapes, techniques and details.

Slowly, stitch by stitch, Silkana took shape.

Thousands of kilometres from where I started, I had somehow come full circle — back to making things slowly, by hand.

Bali gave me a life too. I met my husband on the beach, started a family and made the island our home. Silkana grew with us.

Almost two decades later, Silkana has travelled with me.

My family and I now live in Ibiza, while I return to Bali several times a year.

We still work with the same families we started with in 2009. They are part of Silkana.

Bali remains at its heart. Ibiza brings a new Mediterranean light, colour and freedom.