It's not difficult to identify the award-winning maximalist architect and designer Bill Bensley's work anywhere in the world. In fact, it's a lot to take in as I stand at the lobby of the decorated JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay (it comes first on Travel+Leisure's Top 10 Best Resorts in Southeast Asia among other accolades), a monochromatic 20th-century library with eight-metre-high ceilings and dark wood shelves filled with antique book presses, patterned tiles, marble steps, rattan plush chairs.
Bensley Studios, based in Bangkok and Bali, has never shied away from the “More is More” ethos. Having done countless properties for luxury hotels in Southeast Asia, he offers a flavour of opulence vastly different from the bare industrialist or Scandi minimalist. And the immersive conceptualisation of JW Marriott that opened in 2016 on Phu Quoc, an island off Vietnam roughly the size of Singapore, might be the most surreal yet. hotel guests.
My mind was clouded with fatigue from an eight-hour and two-flight journey from Singapore (during my visit in November, there were no direct flights yet), and I almost believed the spiel. It’s adequately convincing with the keepsakes — a staggering 5,000 antiques and knickknacks found from scouring flea markets all over Europe — to prove it. I check in with the team the following day as we conduct a proper introductory compound tour. “This is all fictional, right?”
A TALE OF URBANISATION
Esta historia es de la edición March 2025 de The PEAK Singapore.
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Esta historia es de la edición March 2025 de The PEAK Singapore.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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WHERE PERANAKAN HERITAGE FEELS LIKE HOME
To Alvin Yapp, Peranakan heritage isn't just history — it's home. Through The Intan, Singapore's smallest museum, he's preserving a culture, one artefact at a time.
RISEN FROM THE ASHES
The regeneration of the Antipodes’ answer to the Galapagos is a testimony to the resilience of wildlife and the strength of the human spirit.
PAPAYA HQ
As reigning constructors' champion McLaren gears up for the 2025 Formula One season kicking off this month, we take an exclusive look inside their Norman Foster-designed headquarters in Woking, England.
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL
With a wrist size of just 12cm, watch lover Stefanie Knight felt shut out of the mainstream collecting market, but found just the right solution.
RARE BOOKS AND MAPS AT FIRSTS HONG KONG
From antique governmental reports to Chinese celestial maps, Firsts Hong Kong offered aspiring collectors and curious visitors access to rare books, maps, and paper-based objects.
WHEN THE TOUGH GETS GOING
On the back of a challenging 2024, brands participating in the LVMH Watch Week 2025 play up their strengths by elevating their hero models and inducting new icons.
THE NATURAL WAY FORWARD
More than schnitzels and sausages, Austrian cuisine's biggest triumph card lies in locally grown and organic produce that fine-dining restaurants champion.
MANMADE PLEASURES
As Vietnam's Pearl Island urbanised in the past eight years, it has become a surreal playground for local and foreign visitors alike.
SHAPED BY HAND, SAVED BY WILL
Copper cookware, a classic French kitchen relic, is seeing a renaissance among chefs and collectors.
ALL ABOARD!
Flexing the fullest extent of its creative prowess, Van Cleef & Arpels reawakens our inner-child with its enchanting treasure-hunt voyage.
