Inside the studio with luxury resort designer Bill Bensley | CNN (2024)

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When a luxury resort developer wants to create a truly spectacular property that’ll be talked about for years to come, there are only a handful of designers in Asia up to the task.

Bangkok-based Bill Bensley is among the top on that list.

After nearly four decades in the business with a portfolio of more than 200 luxury hospitality properties in nearly 40 countries he’s in a position to be choosy about the projects he’ll take on. And there’s one overlying philosophy that guides his decisions.

“If it’s no fun, don’t do it,” Bensley tells CNN, his eyes lighting up with enthusiasm. “If you’re not having fun, then you’re not going to do a good job. Everybody in our studio here – 100 people – we’re all about having fun.”

It’d be hard not to have fun while working at the BENSLEY design studio, a large complex with an art deco feel that once housed Bangkok’s Iraq Embassy.

It’s more like a giant artistic playground than an office. Practically every room, from the fine arts studio to the architecture department, is a colorful buzz of creativity. (See the video at the top of this story for a peek inside.)

‘There are no boundaries’

“There are no rules to what we do in this studio. There are no boundaries. Anyone can pick up anything.”

It’s fitting, given most of projects with Bensley’s involvement are often quite whimsical, places where you’ll spend days marveling at the attention to detail.

The Harvard-educated American has designed a huge chunk of Asia’s most incredible hotels and resorts. These include Oberoi Vilas projects in India, Four Seasons’ award-winning resorts in Thailand, St. Regis in Bali and two of Vietnam’s most talked about projects to date, JW Marriott Phu Quoc and the InterContinental Danang.

He’s been invited to New York to be inducted into the Hospitality Designs Hall of Fame in November.

Bensley says his favorite project to date is the Four Seasons Golden Triangle Tented Camp in Chiang Rai, which he designed over 10 years ago. He recently returned to design a new two-bedroom pool villa for the project.

St. Regis Bali: In his new book, "Escapism," which includes a selection of projects Bensley has worked on, Bensley refers to this photo as "Pill Popping Alice in Wonderland." "The guests' first impression of the St. Regis Resort in Nusa Dua, Bali, plays with scale as Lewis Carroll did with the pill popping Alice," he says. "This otherworldly 10-meter high tropical gate, dripping with hot pinked-tipped Bali vine and with clouds of mist lit by blue moonlight, is meant to make guests feel as though they are entering a dream-like experience."

Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Puerto Rico: Guests enter the resort's Spa Botanica through the Apothecary, a cavernous barn-like space filled with dozens of old jars packed with various seeds and thousands of drying flowers and herbs. In the center, lies a work bench where herbs from the garden just outside are prepared for use in the treatment, notes Bensley in "Escapism," a 500-page book featuring large photographs and detailed explanations of the inspirations and design processes behind each project.

InterContinental Danang: Cantilevered dramatically over the edge of the hotel's restaurant sits the hat table. "The form is based on the idea of a upside down Vietnamese farmer's hat," says Bensley in "Escapism."

The InterContinental Danang: "A good bar needs to have many things to talk about, to look at, and to laugh at," says Bensley of the Cheeky Monkey Bar. "I had a ball designing the Cheeky Monkey."

Four Seasons Chiang Mai: Bensley recently returned to the Four Seasons Chiang Mai to design its new Rim Tai Kitchen, a cooking studio and restaurant.

Capella Golf Clubhouse Foshan: "Bruce Lee was born not too far from Foshan, and this Seussian Kung Fu three-plus meter high bronze rabbit is a salute to the Little Phoenix," says the designer's description of this whimsical space in "Escapism." Bensley is famed for conducting extensive research into the culture, history and natural landscapes of his projects' locations.

Westin Heavenly Spa, Hainan: "Inspired by medieval Chinese architecture, where defense and safety was of prime importance, we fashioned these doors of stainless steel panels and brass oversized rivets," says Bensley. "This light-washed garden courtyard is actually the ladies' locker room."

The Siam, Bangkok: The hotel's Vinyl Room is a repository for hundreds of classic jazz LPs that guests are invited to play. For more photos of the Bensley-designed project click here.

The Slate, phu*ket: Formerly known as the Indigo Pearl, The Slate's design was inspired by the resort's location -- on a family-owned defunct tin mine. Tongkah Bar, pictured, is filled with the contents of the owner's personal time capsule. "The fabric that I used for the pankah fans above came from the old canvas bags used for handling the tin," says Bensley.

The Slate's Cocoon Spa: Eight treatment rooms are set amongst phu*ket's rainforest and tropical gardens.

Belle Mont Farm, St. Kitts: This Bensley-designed luxury Caribbean hotel is set within 400 acres of organic farmland on the foothills of Mount Liamuiga.

Belle Mont Farm, St. Kitts: Our gorgeous little 44-room boutique hotel, Belle Mont Farm, occupies 100-plus hectares and has been planted with the Caribbean's most diverse collection of fruit trees and food-bearing plants," says Bensley in "Escapism."

Park Hyatt Siem Reap: Bensley designed the landscapes and interiors of this Cambodia property. "Our pool has won more than one accolade as it has, in a very small space, a number of rooms, that vary incredibly," he says. These cool poolside cabanas are always occupied first.

Royal Istana: Bensley doesn't just design resorts and hotels. Private commissions have included the Royal Istana palace in Kuala Terengganu. Owned by a Malaysian sultan, it took 15 years to complete.

Inside the studio with Bill Bensley, Asia's most sought after resort designer

While Bensley’s whimsical stamp is increasingly being seen on projects around the world, a global outlook hasn’t weakened his focus.

“What makes a project magical is the ability to finish down to the smallest detail,” he says.

This isn’t hyperbole.

BENSLEY studios is known to handle everything from uniform design, menu design, signage and graphics to even the music that people hear as they’re wandering around a resort. It’s fitting, given Bensley prefers to think of his work in terms of a storyline. And he doesn’t focus on the trendiness of materials.

“Not a whole lot of people think like that so a lot of the hotels being built now are strictly utilitarian and don’t have much soul,” he says. “Even if it’s as simple as the story that we created 25 years ago with Four Seasons Chiang Mai – living on a farm. It’s surrounded by a rice field. It was a such a simple story but it will never go out of style.”

Operating in all design facets – landscaping, interiors and architecture – wasn’t part of the original plan for Bensley.

“I started out just doing landscapes and I just got so tired of doing nice gardens for bad buildings,” he says. “What I’m trying to do that’s a little bit new is to create this mesh between all of these different traditionally separate design companies, where graphic designers, landscape designers and interior designers can all come together in this place where they can work together and create a new product.”

MORE: Asia’s most exciting 2017 hotel openings

Raiding the cabinet of curiosities

Much of the art that Bensley includes in his hospitality projects was created in his studio or handpicked during his travels.

In his warehouse, or the “cabinet of curiosities” as he calls it, you’ll find everything from animal antlers to a spiral staircase he found in a house in Myanmar.

“Buy first, think later,” he says, reasoning that if he comes across a unique piece he knows he’ll use it somewhere eventually. “I select, design and make things for the rooms that are very happy. That are joyful. That are representative of that place.”

Bensley says he often chooses projects based, not just on fun, but on whether he’s been to a location or not. Hence the reason his portfolio includes projects in nearly 40 countries. Still on his design wish list: Japan and Morocco.

“What I like the most about [my job] is working in a new place,” he says.

“Someplace where I can learn a new architectural language, can be challenged to try to see something through somebody else’s eyes. Inspiration comes from everywhere. But mostly it comes from traveling to new places for me.”

Escapism

Set inside the InterContinental Danang, this pre-function foyer leads the all black ballroom.

Earlier this year, Bensley released the first of a series of books that showcases 26 projects in 12 countries over the last two decades.

Appropriately called “Escapism,” the 500-page volume features beautiful, large photographs and detailed explanations of the inspirations and design processes behind each project.

So where does Bensley go to escape? Definitely not a beach resort.

“It’s funny. I’ve designed 200 resorts – a lot of them are on beaches – but you know what, the last place in the world that I want to go is go and sit on the beach. I would find that really boring.”

His vacation of choice: fly fishing in Mongolia, where he’s been going to unplug for the last four years. Last year, he took 12 of his Thai staff with him.

“We’re up there on the border and we don’t see anybody for two, three weeks,” he says. “That’s one thing I do every year. There’s no telephone, there’s no computer there. It’s completely unplugged and when I come back from there I feel like I can jump over a house.”

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Coming soon: A Cambodian luxury tented camp

Coming in 2018: Shinta Mani Wild, a tented camp in the wilds of Cambodia.

One of Bensley’s current projects marries his philanthropy work with his passion for design. Called Shinta Mani Wild, it’s part of Bensley’s own Shinta Mani hotel brand.

The associated Shinta Mani Foundation, which promotes responsible tourism in Cambodia, will be spearheading the conservation and community outreach programs for the camp and provide long-term employment opportunities to those in region.

Bensley says it’s his most ambitious luxury camp project to date.

Set along 1.5 kilometers of river and waterfalls, there are 16 large luxury tents perched over swift waters and waterfalls between southern Cambodia’s Bokor and Cardamom national parks. It’s due to open in mid-2018.

“I think this is gonna really change what a camp looks like for the whole world,” he says. “It’s so luxurious and beautiful.”

Bear in mind this is the same man who over a decade ago kick-started the luxury camp phenomena with the Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai, which he admits is one of his favorite projects of all time. He was recently invited back to design a new two-bedroom pool villa.

So what advice would Bensley offer any budding luxury resort designers?

“I would urge anyone that’s coming into hospitality for the first time to do something weird,” he says. “Do something different. Do something that’s going to surprise people. Don’t do the norm.”

The Siam: Bangkok's The Siam hotel, which opened in 2012, is a 39-suite luxury urban resort on the Chao Phraya River.

Creative minds: The hotel was conceived by creative director and celebrity Krissada Sukosol Clapp, together with famed architect and interior/landscape designer Bill Bensley.

The Atrium: The hotel's main atrium, pictured, was inspired by the Musée d'Orsay's soaring glass and steel dome.

Vinyl Room: Clapp says he created this room as a space to showcase his collection of jazz records passed to him by Vietnam War photographer Hugh Van Es.

Recreation zone: The Siam's recreation room is anchored by a large snooker table.

Pool villa suite: Each of The Siam's six courtyard pool villas has a small, private swimming pool and open-air roof terrace.

Relaxation: Even the bathrooms are breathtaking.

Connie's Cottage: Guests can opt to stay in this historical, century-old house. It's one of three century-old Thai teakwood houses that were once part of antique dealer and OSS agent Connie Mangskau's home, which welcomed the likes of Jackie Kennedy, John Rockerfeller and Roger Moore, among others.

The Siam's library: This is where guests will find Clapp's prized collection of first-edition guide books and a display of his mother Kamala's 2100 BC-200 AD Neolithic pottery.

The lobby: The overall setting reflects the period of Thai King Rama V (circa 1853-1910).

The Siam's River View Suite. No two rooms in the Siam are the same, each featuring its own unique vibe thanks to the one-of-a-kind objects from the owner's collection.

The Siam's River View Suite living area: It's tempting to to call The Siam a boutique property. But Clapp prefers to think of it as an indie hotel -- a nod to his musical background and the struggles that come with being a small player on the scene.

Riverside pool: The resort has a 22 by 3.5 meter infinity pool overlooking the Chao Phraya River.

Sak yant tattoos: A new offering at The Siam, guests can get a sacred "sak yant" tattoo in the resort's specially consecrated space. All tattoos are applied by hand using a traditional khem sak rod and needle.

Riverside pier: The hotel operates a shuttle ferry to transport guests to the nearest BTS Skytrain station, at Taksin Bridge.

Inside The Siam, Bangkok's most magical hotel