Maldives' liveaboard tourism pioneer Philippe Laurella dies
Laurella designed his first safari boat, ‘Baraabaru', soon after he arrived in the Maldives, kick-starting the modern liveaboard tourism industry.
French born Philippe Laurella, known as one of the pioneers of liveaboard tourism in Maldives, passed away on Saturday.
Laurella's death at 81 years was announced by his daughter, former TVM presenter Liza Laurellla. She said her father died at St.Anne Hospital in France Saturday morning.
"Thank you very much for the messages that have been received and for his friends and well wishers trying to reach us out at this difficult time," the younger Laurella's tweet read.
Laurella arrived in Maldives 45 years ago as a chance encounter after being told about the tropical destination by a French couple he met in India.
Procuring a boat in Noonu Atoll Velidhoo, the place he would later call home, he built a deck and a cabin and set sail to see Maldives, travelling from Haa Alifu to Laamu.
Laurella designed his first safari boat, ‘Baraabaru', soon after he arrived in the Maldives, kick-starting the modern liveaboard tourism industry in the country.
He later married a woman from Velidhoo and lived there until her death in the early 2000s. He then moved to capital Male.
Despite coming from a family of artists – Philippe’s mother is a painter as his older brother, while the younger one is a musician and writer and his sister a classical dancer – Philippe was never interested in painting. However boredom on a rainy day in Male in 1999 led him to try, and when a Swiss friend liked and bought his work it became the catalyst for becoming a painter.
Phillipe’s paintings are unique with his experience of the environment of the Maldives and with his French background moulding and shaping a unique form of expression of the living seas of the Maldives. His work illustrates the dazzling colours, intriguing behaviour and high richness of life of the Maldives' marine environment – and delivers an important message on the ecological changes that Maldives has gone through.
His latest paintings were most recently exhibited at Art Gallery Male in November 2022. During the exhibition, he said he hoped to create a dialogue within the art viewers on the importance of protecting the natural environment.
