On a wave with: Visitor Ambassador Marion Mada

Marion Mada ist nicht nur unser neuestes Visitor Ambassador Mitglied, passionierte Surferin und Oy surf Maid, sondern auch das Gesicht unserer Visitor Clothing Kollektion, welche aus der Algenfaser Seacell hergestellt ist. Finde in diesem Interview mehr über unsere Marion und ihren beneidenswerten Lebensstil heraus. 

Visitor: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Marion: Inspiration can be everywhere, nature first, art, especially paintings, books too.

Visitor: You are actually from Madagascar and now live in Biarritz. How did that come about?

Marion: I was born and raised in Madagascar. I left when I was 18 to study in Paris… eyes wide-open, but it turned out the city life was not my thing, I still stayed in Paris around 8 years in total… tried to find my final nest a bit everywhere, Lisbon, Barcelona, Brazil, Berlin… so many creative places, but I knew years ago I wanted to be before my 30s in Biarritz, and here I am! Exactly where I’m supposed to be right now. Being from Madagascar is just so precious for me, I’m so grateful for my dad to have been such an adventurer and moved there from France in the 80s, to have met my mum. We lived crazy adventures there ! Things I would have never seen somewhere else, and that make me I believe down-to-earth.

Visitor: What’s your favorite surf spot?

Marion: It’s always a secret, but I pick one wherever I go, I have one in Madagascar, The French Basque Country has one too here on the picture, Portugal Costa Alentejana, Lombok, Sri Lanka south province, Nicaragua surely does have my heart too !

Visitor: Your favorite surfboard?

Marion: My longboard, a 9’3 noserider, the Nana model by Naje Surfboards and my 7’2 mid-length from Socatoa Surfboards, and of course I can’t wait to try my Visitor Surfboard on a northern beach break.

Visitor: Does your mum surf? She looks like she would have lots of fun out there…

Marion: My mum doesn’t surf… yet! She said she’d be open to try it out, at +63 years old, she tried some take-offs on the living room carpet. She has always been following me on my Malagasy surf trips, playing the guitar on the beach, I did a lot of surf trips just me and her. At some point she was like let’s buy a piece of land at this spot and settle here ! When I was 14 she told me that I needed to make my dreams come true, and asked me « What’s yours? » I said « surfing » and she straight registered me to my first surf camp. She’s the best !!

Visitor: You are in the current Oy surf campaign / you have been one of the Oy maids before. Tell us a little about your work with Oy surf.

Marion: I started collaborating with Oy surf last year. They are building this women community, I feel like it’s so strong ! I love the brand, their spirit, how they are putting ethical products on the market, qualitative, and so pretty too. I’ve met a lot of people through this experience, including the cofounders, and connected by the Oy maids so easily.

Visitor: You run a pretty interesting business named Compotier studio – tell us more about it!

Marion: Compotier studio is a vintage tableware rental service and also a table styling service.  It   started with just going to flea markets, and finding some gems for the table. I love eating, gastronomy, food in general, and sharing meals with beloved people. Finding cool, forgotten tableware for my new place was the initial goal, and then I just thought why not setting nice tables for everyone? Why not giving a second life to forgotten vintage tableware? I even bought some from an old lady going to a retirement house and trying to save some money, telling her I’ll take good care of them.  When I started getting a request for a 100-guest wedding brunch, I asked my friend to join me. So much better to look together, and think together. We love this project where we can really express our creativity !

Visitor: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Marion: In 5 years, I’ll be better at surfing, that’s all I want 🙂 I’ll probably do the same things, finding great places to hang out at, spending great times with my family and friends, work on creative projects if I can ! Most probably near an ocean, but I love not knowing where exactly.