Holbox: Whimsy, Wild, and Design Play
Holbox: A Different Pace of Living
We first visited Holbox when our firstborn left for college.
We needed a reset.
Not something big. Just a shift.
A place that would slow things down and let us feel like ourselves again.
Holbox did that immediately.
There’s a rhythm to the island that’s hard to explain until you’re in it.
There are almost no cars.
You walk everywhere.
At one point I realized I was barefoot on the main road into town, hair completely frizzed from the humidity, and I didn’t think twice about it.
No one else did either.
Everyone seemed tuned into the same thing.
The pace. The air. The feeling of the place.
As designers, we noticed it right away.
Nômade Holbox, where we stayed, was designed in a way that didn’t try too hard.
Canvas walls moving with the breeze.
Lantern light filtering through the trees.
Natural materials everywhere you touched.
Nothing felt overdone.
And because of that, everything felt intentional.
It was a reminder that design isn’t just visual.
It’s something you experience with your body.
Mornings were simple.
Bare feet in the sand at breakfast.
Fresh juice.
Small wellness shots brought to the table.
You could smell incense in the air, mixed with salt from the ocean.
Nothing rushed.
One morning, sitting on the rooftop of our treehouse, I watched the water shift as the light changed.
Deep blue.
Then green.
Then back again.
It wasn’t something you had to think about.
You just felt it.
Another afternoon, a DJ was playing music by the water.
Between tracks, he picked up a flute and layered live notes into the sound of the waves.
It was unexpected, but it fit.
Nothing felt out of place.
Across the property, there were quieter moments too.
Yoga on the beach.
Breathwork under open sky.
Small spaces designed for stillness, not activity.
What We Took From It
Holbox reinforced something we’ve been thinking about more and more.
The best spaces don’t try to do everything.
They create the right conditions.
At Nômade, that showed up in simple ways:
Sustainable materials
Local, natural, nothing overworked
Texture over color
Thatched roofs, woven mats, canvas, sand
Connection to elements
Water, air, light — always present
Indoor and outdoor blending
No hard separation, just transition
But more than anything, it was the feeling.
Nothing was competing for attention.
There was just enough to engage you, and enough space to relax.
That balance is something we think about a lot in our own work.
Not designing for impact.
Designing for how a space supports you over time.
Holbox became part of that thinking.
KDH
Related Reading
- The Balance that Makes a Room Right
- The Home is Becoming Health Infrastructure
- Ask the Architect Designing for Light
Explore More
Follow Along
- @kensington.designhouse
- If you’d like early access to the spaces and ideas we’re building, you’re invited to step inside here.