For the Vietnamese debut of Capella Hotels & Resorts, Bensley dreams up a world that sings with the glamour, mischief and beauty of opera, writes Neena Dhillon.
Day in, day out, designers tell stories, drawing on inspirational people, events and objects to inform their aesthetic vision. In the hands of Bill Bensley, however, storytelling is elevated to a fantastical form, his hotel projects underpinned by a contextualising narrative that bridges art, reality, history and the imagination, with the freedom to roam and soar into fully realised, alternate universes.
For Capella’s first property in Vietnam, the designer’s eponymous studio has been charged with designing every detail, from architecture to interiors, tableware to bathroom fittings. Taking their cue from the capital’s iconic opera house, located nearby, Bensley and his team transport visitors back to turn-of-the-20th-century Hanoi by conceptualising the 47-room luxury hotel as a home away from home for performing society. “As with any project we do, I was intent on creating a unique DNA, and teaching our guests something new,” explains Bensley. “Envisioning the hotel as une petite auberge during her glory days – welcoming visiting opera singers, artists, composers, stage and costume designers – this is truly where Hanoi’s haute-volée would have come to gather in privacy, make merry and collapse into impeccably made beds just before sunrise.”
On a tree-lined boulevard along Hoan Kiem Lake, Capella Hanoi rises from street level with Art Nouveau and Deco flourishes, its architectural form reflecting the styles that would have been in vogue during Hanoi Opera House’s heyday. The Bensley team has succeeded in imbuing the building with a genuine sense of heritage, even though it is newly constructed. Black detailing and gold accents complement the marble, stone and glass façade, these decorative motifs carried inside and throughout the property. Other notable design features weaving their way around interiors include detailed plasterwork and mouldings with patterns that are replicated on furniture, bathroom fixtures and door handles. Describing more of the approach, Bensley says: “Our senior interior designer Aood [Pakheenai Saenharn] is a very quiet man who wields his pencil like Superman might a sword. His drawings for this project are mind-bogglingly beautiful. Many public areas and all the guestrooms have handpainted murals, while all the doors are adorned with black and gold graphic artworks that depict the story of the character after which each space is named.”
As a hallmark of Bensley, guestrooms are highly individual, named here after famous muses including Sarah Bernhardt, Eleonora Duse, Léon Bakst, Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. One particular corner suite celebrates English actress Ellen Terry, who is depicted in a dramatic custom-made portrait. Her life is lovingly documented in framed shadowboxes mounted on the walls, showing old prints from her plays, newspaper adverts taken from original editions dating back to 1889, property registers for her country homes, theatre binoculars and vintage playing cards to reflect one of her favourite hobbies. Over in the Greta Garbo room meanwhile, the actress is honoured with a tiny portrait, found in the wardrobe, capturing her in the title role of the film Ninotchka, for which she received an Oscar nomination. Over the bed, an artwork depicts the black hat she wore when photographed by MGM photographer Ruth Harriet Louise in the 1920s, while clothes, jewellery and magazine pictures also double as subjects for the framed boxes. As always, Bensley and his team spent months and months scouring antique shops, markets and fairs to collect more than 1,000 pieces and curate them into collections. “This to me is one of the best parts – my motto, after all, is to shop first and think later,” Bensley confirms laughing. “We collected memorabilia, costumes and objects while visiting the Marché aux Puces in Paris, Lincoln Antiques Shows and Bangkok’s Chatuchak Market.”
While guestrooms benefit from custom portraiture by Kate Spencer, exuberant murals make a splash in public spaces, not least the inner courtyard, where a full-height gem tells the tale of Vietnam’s history. From an original drawn by Aood, and then handmade in situ by skilled local craftspeople, the mural’s form is inspired by the sculptures of Palais de la Porte Dorée in Paris. The lift lobby is another alluring space, complete with four imposing caryatids that ‘support’ the ceiling in a witty nod to turn-of-the-century scenic design.
Rather than dial down the drama for boutique-sized Auriga Spa, Bensley has heightened the visual fireworks. “The two couples treatment rooms are gorgeously bold,” he confirms. “Together with the gym and pool, this is an area that we designate as ‘Regale’ because the influence here is Vietnamese royalty. Rich colours and materials are paired with opulent fabrics and murals while the pool is a dizzying Art Deco fantasy, making one feel quite pampered.”
Signature restaurant Backstage announces its arrival with a cheeky mural portraying paparazzi on the hunt for off-duty performers. Filled with trunks, costumes and stage props, Bensley had a blast collecting the vintage gowns and wooden shoe moulds that make this a fitting space in which actors might congregate pre- and post-show. “The brasserie has black marble floors, lots of mirrors, and a cage-like structure of brass bars that line the walls and from which musical instruments and props are displayed,” Bensley elaborates. “The artwork here is quite fun – a series of pink photographs taken of antique accessories that actors needed to powder their noses and prepare for the stage, all shot by William Barrington-Binns.”
To complete the F&B offering, Diva’s Lounge exhibits some of the designer’s favourite pieces, not least an original Zinc bar and historic fireplace, both chosen to meld with Vietnamese-inspired rugs, detailed furniture and heavy drapes. Once housed in a Parisian café, the Zinc counter and bar wall would have held bottles of absinthe and vermouth, while the fireplace is likely to have originated from 16th– or 17th-century France due to its size and intricacy of engravings. Bensley notes how rare it is for today’s collectors to find such pieces; fittingly, they find a new home in a hotel that recaptures the glitz of Hanoi a century ago, when it bridged East and West as the cultural capital of Indochina.
