From seeing places to creating one
Garden Villa Collection connects my experience as a traveller with the practical work of creating a hospitality space.
By Jessie Wenjie LiRead story ↗
FOUNDER’S PRACTICE · QIANDAO LAKE, CHINA
A place to practise
the art of living.
Garden Villa Collection, a boutique resort project in Qiandao Lake, China, is where my experience as a traveller met the practical work of creating a place. This chapter brings together the spaces, activities and questions behind that work.
A traveller’s curiosity. A founder’s experience.
I participated in planning, design, construction and operation, including landscape, furnishings and the arrangement of spaces. That experience continues to inform how I observe hotels, cultural experiences and the relationship between a setting and a guest’s day.
Nature & the seasons
Mountain views, mist, gardens and changing seasons shape the setting.
From garden to table
The archive connects growing, harvesting, preparing food and sharing meals.
Chinese living arts
Tea, flowers, calligraphy and objects become ways to pay attention to everyday life.
Movement & quiet
Historical records include Tai Chi, yoga and small reflective workshops.
Gathering & community
Meals, celebrations and workshops reveal how a shared space changes with its guests.
Space & curation
A glasshouse, a terrace and a room can welcome more than one kind of occasion.
Stories from the practice
NEXT CHAPTER · IN DEVELOPMENT
Chinese living arts & Tai Chi retreats
Two distinct directions guide the next chapter: The Art of Chinese Living, bringing tea, flowers, cultural practice and nature together; and The Art of Tai Chi, centred on structured movement and learning. Five-day, four-night small-group concepts are being explored. Venues, dates, teachers and bookable programmes remain subject to confirmation.