Titouan Bernicot became founder and CEO of Coral Gardeners aged just 18. The company cultivates new, healthy corals in nurseries from samples taken from larger reefs, later rewilding them. His work has had A-list support from Jason Momoa and Chris Hemsworth, as well as Rolex, with a philosophy to make conservation fun and exciting. Here, he tells us of his favourite bar in Thailand.
The secret place I absolutely love, especially when there is a really good golden sunset, is a bar on the Thai island of Koh Mak called the Blue Pearl Bar, which sits at the end of a wooden pier. I want you to go there and meet a gentleman named Chai. And if you meet him, you have found paradise. Chai is a barman making some of the best cocktails I’ve ever tried.
My favourite is called the “Coral Whisper”, and he created it for my project, Coral Gardeners. This drink is a symbol of the reproduction of the coral in the form of a cocktail.
I won’t tell you what’s in the Coral Whisper cocktail as it is a secret, but it contains something that suggests some kind of coral larvae. There are some ingredients that make it look like a coral reef during spawning season. It’s a kind of purple, red and pink.
Chai created this cocktail as a tribute to the Coral Gardeners’ mission after I met him three years ago – when we opened our HQ nearby on Koh Mak. I learned that he had been planting coral for more than 10 years, so he was already rewilding, and now we’re helping him.
Chai starts work in the morning and has a two-hour break halfway through the day. Then he jumps in the water and goes to plant some corals with us. Every day for more than 10 to 15 years he’s been looking after corals.
I’d like people to come to Koh Mak and learn about what we are doing. They can book a tour and help work on the land-based nursery and become part of the Coral Gardeners community. And then finish off their day at the Blue Pearl Bar on the pier with a Coral Whisper.
Peter Howarth has been the style director of British GQ and the editor of Arena, British Esquire and Man About Town. He is the co-founder and CEO of London creative agency SHOW and managing director of Secret Trips.
