VICENTE GANESHA

‘I’m from Guardamar, a village in Alicante. I came to Ibiza in 1971. I first opened a shop on a different site to this one, in 1976. I had many different fashion labels there – big brands like Valentino – and then some years later I lost everything. I took with me just my Filofax and contacts and in 1991 I started my current shop, which sells second-hand pieces and designs that I make in India. I went to India for the first time in 1982. I felt like I had been lost and India opened my mind to help me understand myself more. Before that I’d never made fashion designs myself, but because I’d worked with second-hand clothing, I knew quickly what people liked.

I think you either have style or you don’t – you’re born with it. Before, perhaps more than it is now, style in Ibiza was about a philosophy and it was more free. It was about living in a certain way. Creation is necessary for people. We need to believe in something. Because history and politics don’t tell the truth, so the only thing we can believe in is the feeling of art and music – and love, of course. I’m 75 years old, but I’ll never be old in the way I see life because I believe in love and I believe in art. To find these things, you need to go your own way. Don’t follow the rules. Make your own rules.

People find a lot of inspiration in Ibiza. I don’t know if it’s the climate, or the light, or the circumstances here that make it possible to believe in something creative. Being in Ibiza makes you feel like you’re in love, even if you don’t have a lover. It’s fantastic, this kind of attitude in life. To see the infinite. To take your time to do things and enjoy them. Of course, everything changes, nothing is static. But if you wake up at 7am and go to a quiet place on the island where nobody else goes, you can still find that Ibiza.

I have very good friends here. Many of them have become my friends from coming to the shop. We have something in common, perhaps a love of art or music or simply a love for Ibiza. For me the island is the best out of season, during the winter. I like to go to Cala Pluma by bicycle and swim with just the fish. It’s an inspiration for me, to be alone with nature. This island is my love. Many people arrive here and then they go. But I never left. I feel at home in Ibiza – more than at home. I don’t think there could be anything better than living here. If I if were to be born again, I would do the same.

There have been so many special moments. For me a special moment is when people have a good feeling about the shop, and they enjoy coming here. I don’t attract regular tourists. My shop is different. The people who come here are looking for something unique and they have a taste for different sensations. They believe in what I do and the way I do it. My shop is also in a place where lots of streets cross, so many things happen here and sometimes people just pass by and discover it. I’m very lucky to be able to live and work here.’