THE STORYTELLER

說故事的人Bill Bensley, the designer who reinvented the Southeast Asia resort, turns 60 this month. As his wildest and quirkiest project opens in Cambodia, CAROLYN BEASLEY pays him, and it, a visit

CAROLYN BEASLEY profiles Cambodia’s newly opened Shinta Mani Wild resort and its quirky designer, Bill Bensley

為東南亞度假村酒店帶來新面貌的Bill Bensley本月慶祝60大壽， Carolyn Beasley前往柬埔寨，走訪這位設計師及他迄最今 充滿奇思妙想的作品

Bill Bensley is adamant: ‘Luxury as we knew it is stone- cold dead!’ He’s not the first person in the hospitality industry to make that remark, or something like it. But as the man who has done more than anyone else to redefine the luxury hotel resort in Southeast Asia, it sounds like Elon Musk saying there’s not much of a future for electric cars.

From Phuket to Da Nang, Indonesia to Cambodia, in partnership with Rosewood or the InterContinental, JW Marriott or the Four Seasons, the name Bill Bensley is a guarantee that your accommodation is going to have more than a touch of verve, glamour and irreverence. He’s taken the familiar regional, pared- down aesthetic (thatched roofs, rooms on stilts, open-air lobbies, daybeds) and added mosaics, columns, mirrors, art deco graphics and his signature big, bold black and white swirls. (Until Bensley came along, monochrome was exclusively an urban hotel phenomenon.)

Still, he doesn’t like ‘luxury’. What else doesn’t he like? ‘Beach resorts. And I don’t like big hotels.’

So if he’s no longer in the business of luxury, big hotels and beach resorts – what business is he in?

‘Storytelling. Storytelling in hospitality

Bill Bensley堅信：「我們所熟悉的豪華享受已死，猶如冰冷僵硬的石頭一般！」在酒店業內，雖然他並非第一個提出這種看法的人，但他在重塑東南亞豪華度假村酒店方面曾作出重大貢獻，這番話出自他的，口中聽來就像Elon Musk宣告電動車沒未有 來一樣嚴重。

從布、吉 峴港、尼印 到柬埔寨，分別與瑰麗酒店、際洲 酒店、JW萬豪酒店及四季酒店合作， Bill Bensley這個名字保證帶來的住宿體驗，絕不限於展現活力與魅，力 以及高人一等的。品味 他採用當地常見物，茅料 如草屋頂、高架屋、露天大堂及躺椅，等 加入馬賽克、、、廊柱 鏡子裝飾藝術圖案，以及他的招牌設計巨大的黑白漩渦圖，形 構成獨特的美審 風格。在Bensley之前，只有位於市的區 酒店才會採用黑設白 計。

可是，他並不喜歡「豪華享受」。還有什麼是他不喜歡的？「海灘度假村。酒店我也不喜歡大型酒店。」

然而如果他不再參與豪華、大型酒店和海灘度假村酒店項目，那麼他從事的是哪一類業務？

他說：「說故事。的我 下一步行動是透過酒店說故事。」就以他在越南西南海岸的目新項 富國島翡翠灣JW萬豪度假酒店為例，外以 行人的眼光來看，這不過是一間豪華的大型海灘酒店，但Bensley卻令它回歸這個地方原來的初衷：一個學習的地點。

Bensley說：「酒店的背景故事是翻

is my next big move,’ he says. Take the JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort & Spa, off Vietnam’s southwest coast. To the untrained eye it looks like – well, a big luxury beach hotel. But Bensley went back to the site’s origins: a place of learning.

‘It’s the refurbishment of Lamarck University that was built in 1880. I broke this hotel down into 27 different departments, from the chemistry department to zoology, so all the rooms are different,’ says Bensley.

‘Now I’m designing the uniforms, the music and all the graphics, telling the story right down to the last teaspoon.’

Bensley’s Rosewood hotel in Luang Prabang, Laos, was one of 2018’s most high-profile openings.

‘Each of the 23 rooms tells a story, too,’ Bensley says. ‘I’ve got 2,500 artefacts documenting the lives of different personalities that were influential in Laos from 1855 all the way up to 1910, including the “Playboy King” of Laos, Sisavang Vong.’

Maybe it’s time to tell Bensley’s own story.

Born 60 years ago this month in Anaheim, California, he earned pocket money tending to and redesigning his neighbours’ gardens. His love of learning was sparked by his father, a prototype research mechanic who built parts of the Gemini shuttles that went to the moon. He studied landscape architecture at California State Polytechnic University before taking a masters in landscape architecture and urban design at Harvard.

In 1984, Bensley pivoted east. He joined a Harvard classmate, Lek Bunnag, in Singapore. For three years he cut his teeth in hotel design, before moving to Hong Kong and then, in 1989, to Bangkok. Bensley met his now husband and business partner, Jirachai Rengthong, during his first week in Thailand. ‘It took at least a month before he would go on a date with me.’

And so to the latest chapter of the Bensley story. The setting is unlikely: deep in the Cambodian rainforest in the Southern Cardamom National Park.

Across the trail, three hardwood trees lie freshly sliced open with the best timber removed, while four rudimentary traps designed to catch civets are propped nearby. This is poacher country.

I’m on patrol – not something hotel guests get to say very often. A man pops out of the forest near us. My heart pounds. Team leader Rethy Sowath with NGO Wildlife Alliance confronts the poacher, searching his bag. Today, the bag is empty.

Poaching is a life-and- death industry, and not just for the animals. Controlled by a mafia-like underworld, this is a multibillion- dollar industry in Southeast 新於1880年成立的Lamarck University大學。我將酒店規劃成27個學院從， 化學到動物學學院，每所以 個房間都各不相。同 」

「現在我正在設計、制服 音樂和所有平面設計，從頭到尾細訴整個故事小， 至一隻匙茶 亦括在內。」

由他設計的老撾瑯勃拉邦瑰麗酒店是2018年最引人注目的新酒店之一。

Bensley說：「這裡總共有23個房間，各自陳述一個故事。我收集了2,500件文物，記錄了幾位從1855年到1910年老對撾影響深遠的人物的生活， 括後宮妃嬪如雲的『花花公子國王』Sisavang Vong。」

現在也許應該講一下Bensley本人的故事了。

他在60 年前的 2 月出生於加州Anaheim。小時候，他為鄰居打理及重新設計園花 賺取零用錢。他的父親是一名原 型研究工程師曾， 參與建造飛往月球的雙子星號太空船。受到父親發啟，他對學習產生濃厚興趣。他在加州州立理工大學修讀景觀建築，其後前往哈佛大學攻讀景觀建築和城市設計碩位士學 。

1984年， Bensley決定往亞洲發展。他加入哈佛同學Lek Bunnag在新加坡的公司，初次嘗試酒店設計。三年後他前往香港，然後在1989年曼移居 谷。Bensley在泰國的第一個星期結識了現在的伴商侶及 業夥伴Jirachai Rengthong。「至少花了一個月的時間， Jirachai才答我應跟 約。會」

現在翻到Bensley故事最新的一章，不過地點卻令人意想不到，是位於柬埔寨雨林深處的Southern Cardamom National Park國家公園。

穿過一條，小徑 地上橫著臥 三棵剛剛被砍下的硬木樹樹，幹中間最上乘的木材已被挖走，附近放著四個設計、原始 用於捕捉麝香貓的陷阱。這是一個盜獵盛行的國家。

我正在巡邏（酒客很店 人 少會這樣說）。一個男突人 然從我們身旁的森林走出來。我的心跳加速。志願組織Wildlife Alliance的長隊 Rethy Sowath懷他疑 是盜獵者，要求搜查他的袋子，不過結果袋內空無一物。

盜是獵 一門生死關行攸 的 業，涉及的不只是動野生 物的生命。在東南亞，價這是值數十億美元的大生意，受當地黑社會控制。Rethy在褲後袋插了一把大刀，他的同事手則持AK- 47步槍守護隊伍前進。

我在豪華酒店Shinta Mani Wi ld– Bensley Collection加入這支巡邏。隊伍酒距店 離金邊西南三小時車程坐， 落在一片面積350公頃的私人土地上；這片土地位於三個國家公園，之間 形成一條野生動物走廊。

但是這只 Shinta Mani Wild故事的一部分。為了創出他心目中的「故事」， Bensley改寫了一個1960年型代典 的文化衝突。故事當戰越 進行得如火如荼之際，美國第一夫人積琪蓮甘迺迪於1967年訪問柬埔寨西哈努克親王。Bensley以這個冷戰時期奇怪的外交事件為靈感，想出了一個虛擬的故情事節：假如這兩位主人翁決定一起踏上狩獵之旅，麼那 這間度假酒店會是什麼？樣子

Shinta Mani Wild共設有15個豪華帳篷，分佈綿於 延1.5公里、佈滿巨礫的河

I’M TELLING THE STORY DOWN TO THE LAST TEASPOON我說的故事細節詳盡，連一隻小茶匙亦括在內