WANDERLUST
ED GAWNE Founder of Skywells Interview by Sophie Steiner
Following the opening of their first property, Wuyuan Skywells, England-native Edward Gawne and his Jiangxi-born wife Selina Liao, are working on their newest family project. The English country manor surrounded by lush tea fields on one side and a picturesque calm lake on the other is located just 5 kilometers away from Skywells. This 30-room venue is aimed at families, with two acres of garden, kayaks, a large library and Victorianstyle fireplaces in each building. We look forward to seeing it open to the public this month. What is the name of the new venue and tell us more about the space? Victoria House – an English country manor in the Wuyuan countryside. We are blessed to have a beautiful site – flanked by rolling Qing Dynasty-era tea fields to the back and a wide river bend to the front. Wuyuan used to be a 10 hour-plus bus journey, and now it takes under three hours by train, direct from Shanghai Hongqiao with a 20-minute cab at the other end. Our focus will be very much on families – everyone is welcome, of course, but we want to create a space where parents feel their kids are allowed to charge around and have fun, without having to stress too much about disturbing the other guests. What was the inspiration for creating this new property? Becoming a father! I have dreamed of a beautiful house and gardens to raise my growing family in the English tradition and to share with our guests. The Gawne clan made some money in leather about 100 years ago, and the last of this trickled its way into Great Aunty Joy’s big house on the hill in Devon, where I used to spend my summer holidays as a child. Playing games in the garden, exploring hedgerows and racing my brother around the various staircases was a very different experience compared with Chinese apartment life, and one I loathe to give up for my children. This focus on what we leave behind for the next generation becomes more acute once you have kids.
“Lawns are to be jumped around and played on, not just to sit in the back of photos” How is this property different from others in the area? We are building an English country manor in the Chinese countryside – but it’s still important that the building ‘makes sense’ in the context of where it is. This comes down to bespoke, thought-through design. Everything is capped at three floors in height – in the English tradition, elegant buildings are wide and long but not tall. A lot of English country house design features were stolen by wealthy industrialists from their travels around the globe – the original tuhao (土豪). Look out for a Crow-stepped gable, sweeping spiral staircases, a double-height library, log burning stoves and a sun loggia. Some things we just needed to import where we couldn’t find the quality or style locally that we need. Quality timber in Huzhou, for example, is an absolute gem, providing our hardwood floors. The treatment and cut of wood in the West just look different from what you’d find in China in small, different ways that are hard to describe, but that still makes a difference. Typical Wuyuan houses are white with black roofs and have fabulous wood carvings within, so we are liable to stick out a fair bit – but tucked away in the hills, we won’t ruin any traditional Hui vistas. What are you most excited for guests to experience? A proper garden lawn! The feeling of grass between your toes, I believe, is good for the soul, and a world away from the sterile apartment life that dominates Chinese cities. It takes a lot of soil treatment, drain-
age, nutrients and, most importantly, love and care to raise a lawn in southern China. Lawns are to be jumped around and played on, not just to sit in the back of photos. How will this new space differentiate itself from Skywells and other boutique or niche architecture design hotels around China? We will be living there ourselves with our family – five minutes up the road from Skywells, and spreading our time between the two. We are lucky to have the guidance of +1 Design Studio in Shanghai to hold our hands through the process, from a dream in our heads to a real building on a hill. Our theme is very much English Country House – which, let’s be honest, has a lot of naff imitations around China – but I believe this must be one of the first in modern China designed and built by an Englishman for his family. Everything in our houses is real – if there’s a fireplace, we burn wood in it, a bottle of whisky is for drinking, and the library is full of real books to read. A friend described Chinese design to me as like making a film set – everything is a cheap, fake veneer that looks good in photos. I stayed in a hotel with a fake pool last year, literally to pose next to. This is the antithesis of how we do things. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Contact frontdesk@wuyuanskywells.com for more information and reservations.
WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | DECEMBER 2020 | 23
