John Hardy is renowned for having unconventional ideas and turning them into a reality. After selling his share of the John Hardy jewelry company in 2007, he and his wife, Cynthia, conceived and set out to create the world’s first Green School in Bali, Indonesia. Within eighteen months, they built a school for the future by pioneering a new form of education.

The school is built entirely from local materials with an emphasis on bamboo. The fixation on bamboo came from its sustainability properties, and blatant beauty. It is a school without walls or doors, rendering the classrooms open to immediate learning from nature. The central bamboo structure is called the Heart of School, and is likely the largest bamboo building in Asia. Surrounding this building are a plethora of bamboo classrooms-none of which have walls, and all of which have customized gardens that the classes collectively tend to.

Students study a curriculum that blends essential tenets of English, Mathematics and Science with the Creative Arts. This supports students in absorbing local influences (from one of the most culturally artistic places in the world), while mastering traditional academic subjects. Additionally, they engage in Green Studies, which is a unique hands-on approach to sustainability. It includes things like re-connecting students with nature through planting and growing food organically, looking after animals, studying alternative energy, using bamboo as a feature in design-and-make projects, and more.

Due to this trailblazing approach to education, the Green School is attracting global media attention. Similarly, John has recently teamed up with his daughter, Elora, to build the world’s first Green Village. The Green Village is scaling quickly and simultaneously creating stunning bamboo structures. The world is in for another Hardy treat.

You can find out more about John Hardy, and his Internet playgrounds here.