Bill Bensley's World of Escapism

Hotel designer Bill Bensley lives by the motto, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing. The California-born designer has studios in Bangkok and Bali, and his latest book More Escapism: Hotels, Resorts and Gardens features some of the region’s most extravagant resorts. His inspiration comes from treasures around the globe, including a 1930s Vietnamese bamboo hat, covered in pink polka dots, that provided the design spark for his Hotel de la Coupole in Vietnam. It tells a story of how the local hill tribes influenced the haute couture of Paris and includes some of his more ridiculous design ideas, including the installation of a yellow submarine in a hotel pool in Singapore which was deemed unsafe and soon after removed.