In 2007, fashion designer Michal Monka, 57, sat at a commercial event hosted by a vitamin company. Each of the women invited was asked to write where she dreamed of being in 10 years, and what her life, relationships, career and home would look like.
Monka wrote on a piece of paper that she saw herself “living on a farm in nature, a place immersed in light, where people come for healing, growth and expansion ... where animals, people and plants coexist in conversation, and life is filled with adventure, magic, purpose, generosity, community work and the healing of lost souls. A place of healing music, that will bring much light into the world.”
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“The choice to live surrounded by nature was the greatest healing we went through.”The residential compound in Ibiza
(Photo: Lorenzo Melissari)
And today, you live in exactly that kind of place.
“It's crazy. I wrote that 18 years ago, and I understand I didn't get here by chance. There is something powerful here that I need to do and create.”
Living with her ex and son in a traditional finca
For many years, Monka worked in Israel’s fashion industry, first as a model and stylist and later as a commercial producer, until she left Israel for India at 33. She returned to Israel permanently about a decade ago, separated and with a 3.5-year-old son. She settled in Tel Aviv and later moved to Caesarea, where she opened a small studio called Royal Gypsy, creating galabiyas, dresses, coats and blankets with sacred and symbolic prints that became her signature.
For the past two years, Monka has been living in Ibiza with her son, Sky, and with Giten Chamberlain, her former partner, an entrepreneur and artist, in a forest on a high mountain, in an unusual, distinctive living arrangement that reflects Monka's free spirit.
The property is a compound of three small houses: a main stone house with a living room, six guest rooms for rent, a bathroom with a huge amethyst crystal-covered bathtub, a toilet and a large outdoor kitchen used for hosting. Two other small stone houses are scattered around the grounds.
“It does not look like the houses we know in Israel,” Monka says. “This is how people lived in Ibiza in ancient times, in house compounds called a finca.”
Next to the main house is the second home, Chamberlain’s. It is a stone house with a living room and two bedrooms, topped by a spectacular roof overlooking breathtaking scenery. The house has its own toilet and shower.
Monka lives alone in a small studio slightly above the other structures, next to her son. It is about 430 square feet, with a balcony where she placed a huge medieval-style hosting table. Her studio is a separate suite, about a minute’s walk from the other buildings, with its own shower and toilet.
It is a stone structure with a glass wall on the northern side that, when the curtains are open, looks out onto a large swimming pool and a Moroccan tent used by Monka, her former partner and their guests for special events. A musician once rented the unit where Monka now lives.
So you sleep in a suite that is also the gallery where you display the pieces you design.
“Exactly. In Israel, I had a home with a separate studio; here, everything is in the same space. Today, my studio is also a showroom that offers the total look of Royal Gypsy. I recently designed a home collection for Golf & Co., including blankets, bedspreads, decorative pillows, cups, plates and serving dishes. Alongside all that, there is a wooden stand hanging from the ceiling with the dresses and kimonos I designed.”
How do you manage with a kitchen shared by you, your ex and your son?
“At first, it felt very strange, but now I understand that it's smart for the kitchen not to be inside the house, and the most natural thing in the world. It means I need to go down a few steps. You separate food from life and give it its own place. It is very beautiful. That happens when you live in old houses. In the studio, I have a small sink and kitchenette if I want to make tea, but I cannot cook there.”
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Monka lives and creates home items and clothing connected to spirit. The pool
(Photo: Lorenzo Melissari)
When did you decide to move to Ibiza?
“Two weeks after October 7. Giten, my son’s father, called, worried about us, and asked me to bring our son to Ibiza for a visit. We came for two weeks and stayed for two months, and I went through a deep healing process here.
“I never considered leaving Israel, not even for a moment. But when Giten called and said, ‘Come,’ it felt like first aid, a chance to step away briefly and catch my breath. And once we arrived, I realized I wanted to stay. In fact, I had felt that way even before the war.
“When life in Israel came to a halt, I realized my business had stopped too. I understood I could no longer support myself there, and my son had reached an age when he needed a father figure and masculine energy close by. When his father asked us to come, everything aligned for the move.”
What draws you to Ibiza?
“I design fashion and home pieces rooted in spirituality. The brand’s look and feel are very Ibiza. In Israel, I had to explain it, even including a certificate with each garment to describe the symbols and their meaning. Here, I don’t need to. People already understand it. Whenever I came to Ibiza, people would stop me on the street to ask to buy the kimono or coat I was wearing.”
Reunited around the energy
Monka met Chamberlain, who is half Scottish and half English, in India years ago. They lived together in Goa. Sky was born in Israel, and when he was 8 months old, the three returned to Goa. When Sky was 3.5, Monka returned alone to Israel to raise her son.
“Giten kept traveling until he reached Ibiza and found this place, a forest with a 1,500-year-old olive tree that carries a very strong energy. People come here, sit in front of it and hold meditations and ceremonies,” Monka explains.
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A forest with a 1,500-year-old olive tree said to carry powerful energy
(Photo: Lorenzo Melissari)
How natural is it for you to live near your son and his father?
“After 10 years in Israel as a single mother who was with her son 24/7, suddenly taking this little space, just a few steps away, does not seem strange to me. I feel that now I have my own kingdom. The space I created here is sacred. My child is always with me, even if he is a few steps away.
“Just as important was the bond between my son and his father. They hike together in the forest, and he attends a private international school. He has learned three new languages, plays basketball and is pushing himself to reach his full potential.”
What did you want your home to include?
“First, I wanted the energy of my home to match what I put into my clothing. It is the same energy I infuse into my blankets, the same energy people connect with, and it feels like a fingerprint. I cannot exactly describe it, but I manage to transmit it through material. When you walk in here, it is the same feeling as in the studio I had in Israel. It is a frequency that goes with me everywhere.
“A friend wrote about me in a post: ‘Michal manages to transmit spirituality through material and material through beauty.’ “My blanket, for example, becomes a kind of home. Whether you take it to a retreat, a yoga class or even to the beach when you do not have a towel, it gives you a sense of comfort and protection. Inspired by it, I designed a runner for the dining table that also lies on the armchair in my suite, so it is a multipurpose design.
“I have always had a connection to textiles. When I lived in Goa, I embroidered sacred symbols on clothes, and people responded to them strongly. When COVID began, I shifted to producing in Israel on muslin fabric. I basically made a security blanket for adults, like children have, because we live in a world of radical change. If you have an object you can take from place to place to give you a feeling of home, that is priceless.”
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Michal Monka always felt connected to textiles with meaningful symbols
(Photo: Lorenzo Melissari)
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'Plans are underway to build a crystal structure for healing'
(Photo: Lorenzo Melissari)
You now live across from a pool beside a beautiful tent used for gatherings. What’s the story behind it?
“The tent is used for concerts, ceremonies and gatherings. A few people live here permanently, a kind of small community. Scattered throughout the forest where we live are 20 tons of crystals that Giten imports, and that draws people like a magnet.
“Ibiza has homes owned by very wealthy people, seeking something different for their spaces. For example, a huge rose quartz rock, aka the crystal of love, for the garden. The crystals are like amplifiers of good energetic frequency. Today, Giten also carves bathtubs, sinks and tables from them. In my suite, I have large crystals at the entrance and on the table, and later I will also incorporate a crystal sink into the attached bathroom.
“Choosing to live surrounded by nature has been the most powerful healing experience we’ve had. There are plans here to build a crystal structure for healing. Sky’s father is part of the “new world” mindset. Amazing people gather here, including Queen Diambi, queen of Congo,” she says. (She is not an official ruler.)
“In the summer, Ibiza will host gatherings of important and impressive people, as well as new-world money, people who want to heal the world. In the age of artificial intelligence, many things will disappear, people will get lost, and it is important to have centers that bring us back and connect us to ourselves. That is part of the vision of this place.”
And within this life in nature, what do you miss?
“I am not materialistic, but I do need basic comforts, and this place has everything I need. I do not have an electric oven, but I have a wood-burning stove, and there is nothing more amazing than lighting a fire and watching it. I do not have a television, and I do not need one. I have come back to myself. It is a kind of quiet that clears the mind of all the noise. It is health. I do not watch the news, and I stay connected only through Instagram here and there, because I need it for the business.”
Will you return to Israel one day?
“I will always move through the world guided by a strong intuition that is deeply connected to itself, and I believe I will do the right thing at the right moment. Change is a blessing. I believe flexibility and adaptability are our most important qualities, and I do not see anything as a beginning or an end.
“I believe in feeling whether something is right and moving when it is. In Buddhism, they speak of anicca, constant change, because everything in the world is temporary and impermanent. Once you understand that, movement becomes easier. That is how I see life.”