Canadian twins Byron and Dexter Peart, who founded leather brand WANT Les Essentiels, have turned away from fashion to redesign a resort and spa in Belize.

The Matachica resort is the first venture from the brothers' "purpose-led" design studio Byron and Dexter Design ? established to follow on from WANT Les Essentiels, which they left in 2017.

For the project, the duo was enlisted by owner and fellow Montrealer Daniel Lighter to reimagine the overall design and guest experience of Matachica Resort & Spa on Ambergris Caye in Belize ? a country on the eastern coast of Central America.

"We asked him to list key words to describe his vision, and he responded: unplugged, authentic, nature, human," Byron and Dexter Peart told Dezeen.
Those words formed the basis for the visual language of the environment that we set out to create at Matachica.
Designing the resort "with purpose" took form through supporting traditional artisan crafts, and curating unique and collectible interior objects. The property also intended to incorporate the inherent beauty of Ambergris Caye and its architectural character.

Matachica is comprised of 30 thatched-roof palapas occupying a sandy beach on the island's Eastern Coast. Each structure is painted in tropical colours with detachable hammock systems on the private front porches.

Their lofty interiors were individually designed with artisanal finds from around Latin America, as well as bedding by sustainable G...