John and Cynthia Hardy
School for Life Founder
John Hardy, a Canadian art student who was as creative as he was intuitive, made his way to Bali in 1975. Intrigued by the Balinese craft traditions, he settled on the Island and began producing jewelry with local artisans. Cynthia, an American who would years later become his wife, muse and business partner, arrived in Bali in 1982, as a stopover on a round-the-world trip before she started law school in Berkley. She stayed in Bali and started a small jewelry business of her own, which, owing to her talents in analysis and logistics, became successful in its own right. This right-brain, left-brain pair were destined for one another, and in 1989, their professional collaboration turned out to be magical. Together they started a jewelry business that today is one of the top luxury jewelry brands at retail in North America alone.
One of the keys to success is that they have done well by doing good: the John Hardy brand is internationally respected for its platform of ‘sustainable luxury.' From the beginning, John and Cynthia's approach to business has been about making jewelry while being enormously respectful to Bali's land, its environment, its people, and its culture.
The things they care about personally – ecology, preservation of local culture and traditions, social responsibility – have manifested themselves as company mantra. From its pioneering efforts using bamboo for its construction needs instead of cutting down hardwood trees, and offsetting its carbon emissions through the reforestation of an island off the coast of Bali, to the women's mud wall cooperative it started to preserve a moribund part of Bali’s craft heritage, the organic farm on its compound from which it feeds its 750 workers daily and the midwife project which educates its workers about natural childbirth options, the principles of sustainability have guided the company's environmental, social and economic business practices since its inception.
Almost twenty years of working together has yielded more than an exemplary business model: it has resulted in two very special daughters, Carina and Chiara, now 11 and 7 respectively. They benefited from not only the marriage of John and Cynthia’s complementary yin and yang, but also of their parents’ intense involvement in their education. A combination of Waldorf schooling, home schooling teachers, and extraordinary life experience has given rise to two young girls that are curious and gifted – intellectually, physically, emotionally and spiritually. John also has two remarkable children from a previous marriage, a daughter Elora, 26, and son Orin, 19.
Like everything else in John and Cynthia’s life, it became their mission to share with others the educational benefits that they were fortunate enough to provide their children, and School for Life is the realization of that vision. It represents the synthesis of their collective life experience, a magnificent manifestation of education that involves more than pure academics, and incorporates craft, culture, cultivation and entrepreneurship in one place for a long-term dream of life-long learning.
Thus, School for Life will be a series of bamboo pavilions being designed by John, and a team of experienced architects from around the world including Cheong Yew Kuan, whose portfolio includes not only the famous Hardy home, but also resorts throughout Asia and in the Caribbean. Like everything that the Hardy’s build, SFL will have minimal impact on its site, a school in harmony not only with the land, but with John’s sustainable design philosophy. The project involves a team of other architects, designers, engineers, builders and permaculturists.
Scheduled to open in fall 2008, School for life will be a National Plus school initially serving day students from pre-kindergarten through tenth grade, and boarding from grade 7 to 10. It is intended that in the next few years and International Baccalaureate program will be offered from grades 11 and 12. The whole compound will be open 12 months a year with boarding facilities for students, their families, and adult visitors eager to quench their thirst for knowledge.
“We are building School for Life to create a new paradigm for learning: We want to cultivate physical sensibilities so that children adapt and grow capable, as well as spiritual awareness and emotional intuition to encourage them to be in awe of life’s possibilities,” says Cynthia Hardy. "We want this to be our legacy."
