Perfect Boutique Hotel

How J.K. Place in Florence spurred my passion into the world of home interiors

On a beautiful Summer’s days in Florence back in 2005, I was walking through the Piazza of Santa Maria Novella with a friend, who suggested that we have brunch at a boutique hotel called J.K Place.  Although the brunch was served outside on the terrace, I was curious to see how the hotel looked inside. 

The entrance was so understated that I nearly missed it, and I also needed to press the doorbell for someone to let me in.  However, as I entered the corridor, I realised that this place was very different to many other hotels that I’d stayed in previously. 

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How a former police station in the sleeping fish village of Tai O was saved and converted into a hotel

While I was travelling back to Europe from Brunei, I decided to make another visit to Hong Kong.  Although I love the concept of modernised cities, I was eager to discover whether I could find a part of Hong Kong that hadn’t been affected by the spread of urbanisation.

The fishing village of Tai O was a great discovery.  Situated on the south-western coast of Lantau Island, I experienced a couple of days in one of Hong Kong’s oldest fishing settlements.  And to add to the fun, where better a place to sleep but in a hotel that was originally a police station.  With stories of murder, cross-fires and pirate attacks, my stay was far from a boring experience.

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A glimpse of China Town’s architectural heritage

My last trip to Singapore over six years ago was a bit of a blur to be honest.  I do have some hazy recollections of Orchard Road and its endless parade of malls and skyscrapers, merged with a few tipples of a Singapore Sling and a mountain of monkey nuts at the Raffles Hotel.  Other than that, I draw a blank.   So this time round, I decided that I was going do to things differently and explore the area of China town – a unique and special district that was able to take me back in time to the Colonial era and discover the Singapore Shophouses. 

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How the Ampersand Hotel drew inspiration from South Kensington’s museum district.

I love design in boutique hotels.  Every time I visit one, I try to see if there is a story in the design and if I can identify any sources of inspiration.  It’s like when I used to play the game scavenger hunt as a child and submerge myself in the pleasure of finding clues and solving puzzles in order to find the prized object.   

One London hotel in particular was able to bring me back to my childhood tendencies.  The Ampersand Hotel in London’s South Kensington district, takes you on a journey back to the 19^th century, a significant era in British history when innovation and discovery was the driving force of the Industrial Revolution.  Applying boldness and subtleness in equal doses, its design, developed by Dextor Moren Associates,  successfully tells a story of connections between Victorian history and the museum attractions of the local area, using the key themes of botany, music, ornithology, geometry and astronomy.

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The eclectic makeup of what you see today in Central Java, Indonesia is a legacy of different religions, traditions and cultures dating back centuries. My visit to The UNESCO heritage site of Borobudur is a example of how my eyes were opened to the religion of Buddhism and the strong influence it had in Central Java and the heritage that was inherited as a consequence. 

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