The buzzing resort island of Phuket in Thailand isn't the first place you might expect to find a remote holiday home. However, head to the east coast and five-star developments eventually give way to a spectacular, undeveloped area, where part-time resident Stephen James has made a home.
The British-born interior architect with Plan 3/Asia (tel: 2525 3037), who arrived in Hong Kong in 1976, planned his weekend retreat in Phuket long before it became fashionable. Along with his Swiss-German friend Alfons Grieb, a recently retired trader, James discovered the isolated spot facing Phang Nga Bay in 1989, about the same time as the deluxe resort Aman Puri opened. Two years later, the former rubber plantation was theirs and they set about building a pair of modern Thai villas where they could spend time relaxing away from Hong Kong.
One of the first to develop a Thai beach-front property, James was faced with a steep learning curve and, so challenging was the project, that it was not until almost a decade later, in August 1998, that James was able to spend a night there.
'It was a very difficult site [owing to the slope],' recalls James. 'Then we had the Thai financial crisis, then the contractor went bust. I learned a lot about designing in the tropics.'
Although experienced in remodelling other people's homes in Hong Kong, he usually focuses on the interior rather than building from scratch. Finding local craftsmen and tradesmen was easy, he maintains, 'but getting anything done properly was another matter'. He describes the process as lots of compromise and lots of mai ben rai. (the Thai equivalent of 'never mind').
Apart from the Aman Puri, there were no role models on the island and James does not deny that the hotel's chic architecture was a source of inspiration. He was working with the resort's architect Ed Tuttle on a project in Hong Kong at the time and his influence inevitably rubbed off.