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Taiwan on Top 10 Taiwan on Top THE ISLAND STATE LINES UP AS A FUTURE DESIGN CAPITAL PLUS: ASIAN DESIGNERS DOMINATE IN MILAN, ART HK SELLS OUT AND HERMÈS AND SC GLOBAL MARRY AT THE MARQ IN SINGAPORE SCE NE A Singapore rooftop bar that’s become a local institution gets a fresh new look - and so does our Scene section. THE OUTDOOR AREA OF LOOF, SINGAPORE. SCENE / Thailand me Bill had already reserved it. When I decided to build The Siam, I figured I might as well work with this guy rather than ‘compete’ with him! After all, he was based in Bangkok. When I met Bill, he was the nicest designer I’d ever met. He didn’t carry a big ego. With other renowned architects, I knew that I wouldn’t have been able to touch their designs. But I wanted to be personally involved with The Siam’s artistic vision. Bill and Khemvadee [Paopanlerd, lead project architect from the Bensley Studio] allowed me that, and I’m forever grateful.” The luxury hotel offers 39 rooms in a mix of pool villas (the first in Bangkok), spacious suites and one very special residence – Connie’s Cottage – a restored century-old Ayutthaya teakwood house previously purchased by antique dealer Connie Mangskau under the guidance of renowned American expat architect and silk tycoon Jim Thompson. The house – one of four on the hotel site – is now in its fourth location, having served as an entertainment residence during the middle of last century for visiting luminaries such as Jackie Kennedy and Roger Moore, and then passing through the hands of another owner who used it as a holiday retreat in Minburi before coming to the Sukosol Clapp family. “The Thai houses had their glamour and history, but this was fading,” says Krissada. “It was only right for us to purchase them, take them apart once again, and put them together in perfect restoration. Three of them form our signature Thai restaurant and cooking school, Chon, while the Most design collaborations have an interesting story behind them, but few of those stories involve a rivalry, and it’s pretty safe to say only one involves a rivalry between a famous rock star and one of the world’s top architects. SIAM HOTEL Still, the new Art Deco-meets-King Rama V-styled boutique hotel The Siam, which opened this June on the banks of the Chao Praya River in the historic Dusit of BOLD ART DECO LINES PAIR WITH A Bangkok, is not what you’d call a conventional hotel. MIND-BLOWING COLLECTION OF ART The design of the hotel was spearheaded by American-born, Thai-based architect Bill Bensley, named AND ANTIQUES FROM THAILAND’S by Architectural Digest as one of the world’s 100 leading HISTORY IN A GROUNDBREAKING NEW architects, and creative director Krissada Sukosol Clapp, best known in his homeland as the lead singer of indie- LUXURY BOUTIQUE HOTEL ON THE rock band Pru, and an actor with the Thai equivalent CHAO PRAYA RIVER IN BANGKOK. of an Academy Award to his credit. The Sukosol Clapp surname, however, is just as well known in hospitality circles as the family behind the Siam Hotels & Resorts, WORDS MELINDA WILLIAMS and as passionate art and antique collectors. It was that passion for collecting, which Krissada inherited along with the family’s musical talent and interest in design, that led to his first encounter with Bensley. “Bill and I visit the same antique haunts,” Krissada explains. “I used to get a little ticked off when I’d point to a piece I wanted and the dealer would tell SCENE / Thailand SCENE / China CHINA fourth is set apart as Connie’s Cottage in honour of their previous owner.” Alongside the restaurant and cooking school, the hotel complex offers a range of expected and unexpected facilities, including a bar, bistro, spa, yoga terrace, hair and nail salon, a period library, meeting NAKED STABLES PRIVATE RESERVE room, gift shop, art gallery and even a Muay Thai boxing ring. There’s no shortage of off-site offerings While cautious hoteliers might feel uneasy about using the word either, with a Thai barge and speedboat on standby at ‘naked’ to describe a premium holiday retreat targeted at an affluent the resort’s private pier, ready to whisk guests off to clientele, the tongue-in-cheek branding seems to suit Grant Horsfield shopping, eating or sightseeing destinations. just fine. The Shanghai-based, South African entrepreneur founded The architectural inspirations of the hotel are eclectic, Naked Retreats in 2007, fuelled by his long-term dream of launching from the Art Deco period, to 19th century ‘Western-style’ a chic exclusive resort that would extol the unadorned splendour of a homes from the Dusit neighbourhood, and the elegant forest backdrop, encouraging city-worn guests to ‘get naked’ and strip Beaux-Arts Musée D’Orsay in Paris, which had an interior away their worldly anxieties. makeover in the 1980s by Gae Aulenti. The centrepiece The 121 rooms were fitted out by Horsfield’s architect wife, of the resort and the heart of the design, however, is Delphine Yip. Like other areas of the resort, accommodation spaces the extensive art and antique collection belonging to have been fashioned using industry-approved green materials and the Susokol Clapps, which is distributed throughout the processes for minimum environmental impact. Yip, a partner at Ben property and suites. Krissada says many of his personal Wood Studio Shanghai who was also master planner and chief pieces had been in storage for over a decade, and it was architect for the project, looked to different aesthetic influences to a delight unearthing them again. “Half of the antique inform her subtly urbane design, namely African and Asian elements collection is original photos, prints and artwork. I do like that are evocative of the respective cultural backgrounds of Horsfield moments of our royalty in their most relaxed state (rather and herself. Guests can choose the airborne privacy of a spacious than in studio poses). I have a few wonderful century-old tree-top villa or the warm elegance of an organically shaped earthen photos of King Rama V, and the present King Rama IX. hut reinforced with locally sourced compressed mud. They are the country’s most revered kings, and to see Given the serenity enhanced by the placid presence of tea them acting like everyday men, it just helps us to get to plantations, bamboo forests, a large reservoir and occasional know the man rather than the King.” encounters with baby deer, management is strict about maintaining Krissada admits the project has already grown beyond the peace here. With amenities such as a full stable, pristine trails, his wildest dreams. “My original vision was not this outdoor pool and a 750sqm wellness spa on offer, guests are spoiled grand!” he laughs. “I wanted to be small, beautiful and for activity choices. Whether your thing is hiking, swimming, visiting humble. But now we’re big and, hopefully, beautiful. villages or lounging around your conscientiously designed villa in What Bill and his team have built is a hotel that’s grand the buff, there’s much to do – or not do. Sanjiuwu, Laoling Village, in scale, but at the same time, intimate in atmosphere. Moganshan Town, Deqing County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province. During a site visit last week, a journalist told me, ‘This +86 21 6431 8902. nakedretreats.cn hotel is big but it feels small.’ To me, that was a helluva compliment.” 3/2 Thanon Khao, Vachirapayabal, Dusit, Bangkok. +66 2206 6999. thesiamhotel.com SCENE / Hong Kong SCENE / India HONG KONG LUPA INDIA Can the best New York-style Italian cuisine really be found in the heart of Hong Kong? A spin-off of the New York restaurant bearing the same name, chef Mario Batali’s Lupa serves up uniquely concocted signature dishes in an interior awash in warm wood accents, sleek tiled flooring, intimate lighting, and presided over by a statement bronze THE CHARCOAL PROJECT sculpture of a large she-wolf suckling two infants (Romulus and Remus). The premises exude a spirited yet intimate air, making it the ideal place to indulge in a zesty dish of The delirious brainchild of Sussane Roshan, The Charcoal Project linguine. 3/F, LHT Tower, 31 Queen’s Road Central. +852 2796 6500. diningconcepts. is stocked from wall to ceiling with the interior designer’s eclectic com.hk/lupa array of handpicked discoveries. Expect to find opulent gold surfaces, antique baroque chairs, and rare artefacts positioned alongside more contemporary items from the likes of Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla, and Andrew Martin, as well as offerings from Roshan’s own line. Taking on the dynamics of a museum, art installations include ceiling-suspended birds, gargoyles, and a giant metal gorilla, all adding to the engaging madness. Unit 1, D-Mall, Off Veera Desai Road, Andheri (West), Mumbai. +91 22 6193 6198. thecharcoalproject.com NANDITA BASU Using acclaimed fashion designer Nandita Basu’s architectural inclinations – including kantha, an indigenous style of embroidery from West Bengal – New Delhi-based architecture and interior firm Lotus set to work on her debut boutique. An intimate alcove of a shop measuring just 28sqm, the cosy trapezoid-shaped space is layered with a translucent glass skin suspended over heavily textured grey walls. Basu’s tendency to blur the lines between traditional and modern is acknowledged through her shop’s location next to the Qutab Minar, a renowned 12th century masterpiece of Mogul architecture. G-7, G/F, The Crescent at the Qutab, Lado Sarai, New Delhi. +91 11 2952 2328. nanditabasu.in QUINARY Quinary reveres a bygone era, yet packs its own modern punch.
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