History & Partners
Thirty years, one way of working.
In 1993, U Kyaw Sein, Thandar Ne Win and their partners began by building homes for family friends under the name Kappa International. The hotels came next, then restoration, then furniture. The name changed along the way. The way of working did not.
A teak house taken down board by board to be rebuilt. The same care has been applied to hotels, estates and private houses since 1993.
A record of places · 1993 to the present
1993
Kappa International is founded
U Kyaw Sein, Thandar Ne Win and their partners begin with private homes for family friends in Yangon. The workshop that will become Teak by Kyaw Sein is set up in the same years.
1990s
Inya Lake Hotel, Yangon
Renovation and joinery for the 1962 lakeside hotel, the practice's first landmark hospitality work.
1996
Traders Hotel, Yangon
Opened 14 November 1996 on Sule Pagoda Road; rebranded Sule Shangri-La in 2014.
1998c.
Hotel Nikko Royal Lake, Yangon
Construction of the lakeside hotel beside Kandawgyi, today the Chatrium Hotel Royal Lake.
2001c.
Tharabar Gate, Old Bagan
Construction and furniture for the hotel at the eastern gate of the old city.
2004–07c.
Aureum Palace Hotels & Resorts
A series of properties for the group: Ngapali, Bagan and Inle among them.
2009c.
Villa Inle, Inle Lake
A boutique resort of teak villas on the eastern shore of the lake.
2010c.
Ngapali Bay Villas & Spa
Design and build of the beachfront villas on the Bay of Bengal.
2010s
Kappa becomes Southern Silk Road
The practice takes a new name and widens into restoration, estates and private residences across the country. And many more houses that we do not name.
Now
Candacraig, Pyin Oo Lwin
Restoration of the 1904 hill-station estate as a hotel, with Southern Silk Road as builder.
2026
U Kyaw Sein builds under his own name
Private Residences by U Kyaw Sein, Signature, and Teak by Kyaw Sein: the same hands, the same workshop, now as one family brand, in partnership with Green + Partners Architects.
Dates marked c. are approximate and await confirmation from the company's records.
Hotels we have built or restored
Inya Lake HotelYangon
Traders HotelYangon · now Sule Shangri-La
Hotel Nikko Royal LakeYangon · now Chatrium
Tharabar GateOld Bagan
Aureum PalaceBagan · Ngapali · Inle
Villa InleInle Lake
Ngapali Bay Villas & SpaNgapali
CandacraigPyin Oo Lwin
Wordmarks stand in for hotel logos until transparent artwork is supplied.
Partners
Green + Partners Architects, London and Yangon.
Kyaw Sein has partnered with Christopher Green RIBA and his practice to bring an international standard of design and delivery to Myanmar's luxury market. Green + Partners' work includes Villa La Coste and the Château La Coste art centre in Provence, and heritage-led regeneration in London; the practice has kept a Yangon office since 2015.
Green + Partners draws. Kyaw Sein builds, plants and furnishes. One standard runs from the first sketch to the last cushion.
Architecture
Green + Partners
Founded 2015 by Christopher Green RIBA. Character of place, local materials, sustainable construction.
Construction · Landscape · Furniture
Kyaw Sein
Yangon, since 1993. On site every day; the garden designed with the house; furniture from the family workshop.
Interiors
Graduate of LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore; leads interior design alongside her father.
Founders
U Kyaw Sein & Thandar Ne Win
Began in 1993 building homes for family friends; still on site, still in love with the work.
