Ocean Custodian Comes Into Quiet Focus — with Mat Abad AKA Bad Boi

Mat Abad carries the ocean energy inside him. There’s a calm strength to him… the kind that comes from seeing both the beauty and the breaking of the world. 

Mat’s fluidity in his work as a travel and climate change photographer has taken him from prismatic coral reefs to echos of rainforests, from peaceful dawn tides to the hum of city life; always honoring the connection between people and the planet. He honours this invisible string most notably in his iconic artistic print Beyond the Pines; muted in pages but voluminous in eye contact. 

An interpreter of beauty, he has the uncanny ability to weave inspiration from like-minded impetus artists; those who draw outside the lines, push boundaries, and create with purpose; expressionists who spark movement, ignite change, and embody the very force of momentum itself. 

In truth, he is one of them. 

A beacon of courage for the communities he photographs…  soulful, grounded, and generous with his heart. 

Some relationships simply feel destined. And from the very first meeting, we knew he was ohana — family in spirit and purpose. ʻOhana’ is about belonging, care, and responsibility. The word comes from ʻohā, meaning the root or shoot of the taro plant. Just as the taro plant grows from a shared root, every person, brand, and community is connected through its bonds.

In Hawaiian belief, all people spring from the same taro plant, making everyone part of one living, interwoven family. 

Mat’s philosophy of mindful creation mirrors our own value in local crafts people and together, we share a simple truth… 

“Beauty should never come at the planet’s expense.”

Mat first came to know of our San Lorenzo family in Hawaii, a place he had longed to visit even when living in the Philippines. What makes the brand special, he says, is that SL doesn’t just create bikinis; they craft garments that tell a story about the island itself. Every piece carries the rhythm of the waves, the warmth of the sand, and the heritage of a place where land and ocean breathe as one.

Mat’s photography capturing our SL bikinis are a testament to intentionality, mindfulness, and care.  His enigmatic work captures the hues of humanity not through control, but through presence — the modality of living in the moment behind the lens. 

Watching him work feels like witnessing poetry in motion. 

He maps only the place and the outfits, leaving room for mood, creativity and life to flow freely at will. 

Shooting SL bikinis, Mat describes them as “freedom stitched into fabric, not just in the way they shape the body, but in how they move with the rhythm of the shoreline.” 

Catching sunlight and salt water in the same frame, he says, is proof that beauty is most effortless when it’s in conversation with the sea. The bikinis carry a restless spirit, born to drift with the tide yet soft enough to honor the places where land and ocean meet. 

The recycled composition of  textures, fabrics, and craftsmanship of SL bikinis influences the way he shoots, enhancing their effortless, oceanic beauty.

A storyteller of emotional tones across the planet and sea, Mat is a gentle guardian of the places most people only dream of.

Mat wasn’t born to the ocean. Growing up in the city, he remembers rivers that ran black where he lived, and thought that was simply how water was meant to look. Only as a teenager, traveling for the first time, did he see rivers run clear, oceans stretching blue as eternity. 

It was like discovering a part of himself he never knew was missing. 

“The ocean became both teacher and mirror,” he reflects, “showing me not only beauty, but responsibility.” And thus reverberating within the people around him that ocean commitment lies not only with seaside inhabitants but also city dwellers. 

Mat’s charge of ocean care grew into another distinguished project in Save The Reef. @SaveTheReef grew from the same journey that began with his Karmagawa purpose traveling the world to build schools, planting seeds of hope in remote corners. But as Mat photographed beaches, he noticed their quiet decline. 

Corals, once gardens of fire and color, were pale and dying, not with a scream, but with a whisper. The oceans, the very lungs of the Earth, were gasping for air. “With climate change accelerating, we are losing half of the world’s coral reefs, and nearly 90% could vanish by 2050 if nothing changes. 

I couldn’t just look away. @SaveTheReef became my way of saying: we are late, but not too late to fight for what remains.”

To him, protecting the ocean is about more than saving fish or coral. “The ocean regulates our climate, provides food for billions, and produces more than half the oxygen we breathe. Rising temperatures, plastic pollution, and acidification are unraveling its balance. I may not have grown up by the sea, but now it feels like the sea grew into me. My mission is to make sure that my child, and the children of tomorrow, inherit waters that are alive, not memories of what once was.”

Every San Lorenzo bikini begins its story in the hands of local women in Brazil and Peru. Each piece is hand-stitched, crafted with precision and care. You can feel the uniqueness when you touch the recycled fabric: thick, resilient, and buttery-soft. The material is outstandingly more premium than the highest quality synthetic swimwear fabric on the market today. 

A professional seamstress could trace every stitch and find no loose threads, only craftsmanship that binds two layers of fabric in perfect harmony. 

This is forever fashion, made to last not only physically, but emotionally. “Every piece feels alive,” Lisseth, founder of San Lorenzo, says, “like someone’s story is woven into it.”

San Lorenzo’s dedication to sustainability isn’t a marketing ploy or a trendy claim to attract attention. It’s a commitment rooted in action, care, and integrity. True sustainability touches every stage of our process, from intention, to sourcing materials, production, packaging, and eventually the entire lifetime of our bikinis.  After years of research, trials, and countless fabric tests, the brand found the perfect match in an eco-friendly microfiber made from Amni Soul Eco®️ fiber, the world’s first biodegradable polyamide. 

Unlike traditional synthetics that linger for decades, this material breaks down in about three years in landfills, dramatically reducing fashion’s footprint.

And it doesn’t compromise performance: with UV Protection 80 Stretch + Wet, it shields the wearer while respecting the planet. 

“It’s rare to find something that performs, protects, and still honors the earth. That’s what makes San Lorenzo special,” says Lisseth.

As San Lorenzo pioneers and continues to explore the future of 100% fully biodegradable swimwear, this partnership feels less like business and more like a shared calling; grounded in kindness, driven by purpose, and inspired by the ocean itself.

Because in the end, true beauty isn’t just seen.

It’s felt in the hands that made it, 
the sea that inspired it, 
and the ʻohana that keeps it alive.

Follow Mat’s Journey 
@badboi — for photography and travel adventures
@beyondthepines — support communities and get your copy of Mat’s latest work
@savethereef — join the movement to restore our planet

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