Having swapped San Francisco for slow fashion and the Balearic lifestyle, Jasmien Hamed’s island home pays homage to a life well-travelled.
Jasmien Hamed caught the travel bug young. Born and raised in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother and Egyptian father, the stylist and designer was brought up between both cultures and spent her formative years “cultivating a nomadic spirit”. The urge to explore catapulted her from a role as fashion editor of a Dutch magazine to San Francisco aged 21, where she carved out a successful career as a creative.
But despite two decades in the States, she was never quite able to shrug off the allure of island life. “Deep down, I always knew my heart belonged in Ibiza,” she admits. “I travelled here every summer and was always sad to leave.”
After convincing her husband, Kourosh Shah, to take the leap, the pair made the permanent move to the island in 2021, setting up home at Hacienda Nomad, a 200-year-old finca perfectly positioned between Ibiza Town and Santa Eulalia.
Nomadic in name and nature, Jasmien has designed, collected and upcycled the furniture and fittings throughout the house to reflect the couple’s globetrotting. “We’ve navigated the world and this house reflects that,” she smiles.
“There’s often this preconceived idea of what a finca should look like. Before we moved here, I was so in love with that typical ‘Ibiza island style’: White walls, natural furniture and straw lamps,” she says. “But living here and seeing it so often, we felt inspired to create something different.”
Having found a creative sparring partner in her husband, who shares her passion for design, the pair have put a “global bohemian” stamp on the house. French antiques are contrasted with modern Italian furniture and mid-century Danish pieces, interspersed with handmade local ceramics and light fixtures from Morocco. “To me, this represents the many different cultures and people that are brought together here in this magical place,” says Jasmien.
The building’s “good bones” provide a striking canvas that pairs original architecture with more modern additions, including an expansive living room and circular entrance hall added in the 80s. The footprint is something of a rarity in a house of this age, where the scale of the living areas tends to verge on compact, explains Jasmien. “It makes it a home for all seasons: In the summer, we spend all our time outside, but in the winter, we can retreat inside. We wanted the house to reflect the fact that we live in it all year round.”
“We wanted the house to reflect the fact that we live in it all year round.”
- Jasmien Hamed
As well as being keen to open up their home to guests looking for a boutique homestay experience, Jasmien also sees Hacienda Nomad as a lifestyle brand – a platform for the objects and furniture the couple have designed and upcycled. “Almost everything in the house is either designed, custom-made or sourced by us from antique shops or flea markets.
“We’re constantly designing and redesigning areas around the house,” she continues. “We really enjoy the process of exploring how a space can evolve and become more beautiful and functional.”
Sustainability feeds into this evolution – as it always has for Jasmien throughout her career. Having seen the impact of fast fashion first-hand as a stylist, she was inspired to found her own sustainable fashion label, Très Nomad, which she plans to relaunch soon.
When it comes to modern interior design, Jasmien also favours a green approach, preferring to scour the island’s second-hand furniture shops and the weekend Sant Jordi flea market in search of old furniture to restore rather than buying new pieces.
The decision to put down permanent roots on Ibiza was driven by the promise of a simpler life – “I love living in the campo with its endless caminos to hike on, and the fact that you can swim in the sea pretty much every day of the year” – but also by those who call the island home.
“I love the people the island attracts: hedonistic, loving, creative, open-minded and mindful,” Jasmien says, adding that the secret to island life is to embrace new experiences. “Someone you meet at the market will invite you for dinner at their house and they’ll turn into a life-long friend. It’s like that here, but you have to be open to it.”
Hacienda Nomad is available to rent from €13,000 p/w.
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