Maximalism is back, and these hotels prove it

In 2010, Suzanne and Christopher Sharp, former owners of British carpets brand The Rug Company, came across a dilapidated 18th-century house in Attard, one of Malta’s historic Three Villages, and immediately fell under its spell. 

The couple spent the next 15 years bringing it back to life, first as their family home and later, wanting to share the property’s charm with the world, as a 17-room hotel which opened in May this year. Christopher focused on reimagining the property’s gardens, while Suzanne, who grew up in Malta, revived the interiors with thoughtful and considered details: Murano glass lighting; karabagh rugs; a bespoke de Gournay wallpaper depicting 17th-century Valletta in the hotel bar; lampshades hand-painted by artists from a nearby pottery studio; and, in the restaurant, hand-painted murals by Italian artists Alfonso Orombelli and Luna Aulehla Greppi that echo the hotel’s lush gardens. 

The restaurant is helmed by head chef Dex Osman, who made a name for himself at London’s famed River Café, has created a menu that fully embraces the abundance  Malta’s seasonal bounty with produce-driven dishes. 

Opened by Iwan and Manuela Wirth, founders of juggernaut international gallery Hauser & Wirth, The Fife Arms is decidedly different from their galleries’ stark white walls. Colours and patterns clash at every turn, as guests stay amongst some seriously high-profile artworks, such as The Younger, a painting by Pieter Brueghel that hangs in the dining room, where the walls have been painted in abstract “cubistoid” shapes by Argentinian artist Guillermo Kuitca. Pablo Picasso’s 1953 work Femme Assise dans un Fauteuil (Woman Seated in an Armchair) is backed by green tartan wallpaper below a ceiling painted by Chinese artist Zhang Enli, the swirling lines inspired by cross-sections of Scottish agate stones.

The hotel sits in the Cairngorms National Park, where it was originally built by Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Princess Louise in the 19th century. There’s even a suite named after her, which is covered in wallpaper in various shades of pink, antique furniture and a four-poster bed with silk drapes. 

Bertie’s Bar, meanwhile, was named after the queen’s hedonistic heir and Princess Louise’s father, King Edward VII. Its floor-to-ceiling shelves are lined with books and nearly 450 bottles of whisky, from long-aged, rare drams to new releases. 

Located near the beloved Hanoi Opera House, architect and designer Bill Bensley didn’t skip a beat when it came to bringing his signature storytelling and sense of whimsy to this project. Capella Hanoi’s theatrical design is crafted around a fictional narrative: that the property was a rendezvous residence for opera singers, composers and artists during the Roaring Twenties. 

Using layered textures, vibrant colour palettes, patterned tiles and hand-picked antique oddities, each of the 47 rooms and suites is uniquely curated around individual opera legends, featuring custom set designs, vintage stage costumes, original portraiture and framed theatre memorabilia. 

Public spaces echo this grand narrative, from Backstage, the gilded, opera-themed restaurant with shimmering vanity mirrors and exposed costume racks to Diva’s Bar, where an eye-catching zinc bar framed by heavy velvet drapery takes centre stage, to the subterranean pool reminiscent of an imperial bath house. 

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