U Kyaw Sein
Yangon · Est. 1993English
I. Houses, hotels and furniture in Myanmar teak · since 1993

Welcome to the world of U Kyaw Sein.

We do not believe in fast work. A house should outlast the people who commissioned it and be passed on in good order, so we take the time the work asks for, and sometimes a little more. We build for a small number of clients each year, and we keep their names to ourselves.

Enter
Villa living room with vaulted teak ceiling
Plate I — A private residence, Yangon. Teak throughout, from the family workshop.
Completed work
II. The Builder
Traditional teak house under restoration
A teak house being taken down, board by board, to be rebuilt properly.

The land comes first. The house is placed in it.

U Kyaw Sein does not manage his sites from an office. He sits on them, most days, from the first survey peg to the last coat of oil, because a house only becomes what he intended if someone is there to insist on it. He works alongside the client's architect, translating a vision into rooms, and he is known for one habit above all: if a thing looks wrong once it is built, he takes it down and builds it again.

He thinks of himself less as a developer than as a landscape gardener who happens to build: the land is the canvas, the garden is designed with the house rather than after it, and walls are moved for trees rather than the other way round. He admires the work of Bill Bensley, and it shows in the belief that a property should feel discovered rather than developed. The work is sometimes slower than it might be. That is the nature of it.

Teak house under construction with scaffolding
On site. A teak pavilion in its frame.
Private residence exterior with garden, Yangon
Plate II — A house placed among its trees, Yangon.

Nothing more classic and high-end than Burmese teak.

U Kyaw Sein
III. Private Residences by U Kyaw Sein
Sold complete

Built to be handed down through generations.

Each house in the Private Residences series is designed, built and furnished by the family as one work: the house, its garden and every piece of furniture in it, handed over finished. The teak floors, the joinery, the tables and beds from the workshop, the lamps and the linen are all part of the house. You arrive with your suitcase.

Bedroom with four-poster teak bed
Plate III — Principal bedroom, four-poster from the workshop.01
Residence hall with teak doors and floors
Plate IV — Entrance hall.02
Dining loggia with teak table
Plate V — Dining loggia.03
What is included
The house

Structure, teak floors and ceilings, doors, windows and all fitted joinery.

What is included
The garden

Planted and established before handover, designed with the house by U Kyaw Sein.

What is included
The furniture

Every piece from Teak by Kyaw Sein, with lighting, art placement and linen.

IV. An evening at home

A house is finished when it is lived in: a dinner that runs late, a garden set for a wedding, the ordinary evenings in between.

Garden ceremony seating at a residence
A garden set for a celebration. Cane chairs from the workshop, flowers from the grounds.
Dinner at a long table
Dinner at the long table. Teak chargers, terracotta, the house's own linen.
Champagne on ice in a teak bowl
Champagne on ice in a teak bowl, banana leaf beneath.
Coupe glasses with strawberries
Coupes and strawberries before the guests arrive.
V. Private Residences · currently offered
One residence

Parami Valley

Contemporary heritage, by father and daughter.

Eindri Kyaw Sein
Eindri Kyaw Sein
Interior design · LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore

An apartment of 1,100 square feet, designed by U Kyaw Sein with his daughter Eindri Kyaw Sein, a graduate of LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, who now leads interior design alongside him. Three bedrooms in teak and rosewood, bathrooms in marble, and every piece of furniture made in the family workshop. It is sold as it is photographed. Viewings are arranged by telephone.

Area1,100 sq ft
BedroomsThree
MaterialsTeak, rosewood, marble
FurnishingComplete, by Teak by Kyaw Sein
DesignU Kyaw Sein & Eindri Kyaw Sein
Enquiries+95 9 503 5871
Call to arrange a viewing
Parami Valley drawing room with teak ceiling and framed art panels
Parami Valley dining room Parami Valley bedroom with teak headboard
Bedroom with live-edge teak headboard
Second bedroom, live-edge headboard.
Marble bathroom with brass basin and teak vanity
Bathroom, marble with brass and teak.
Louvred teak wardrobe
Fitted wardrobe, louvred teak.
Window seat with teak bench and linen cushions
Window seat, third bedroom.
Live-edge teak console table
Plate VII — Console, one live-edge slab on four squared legs.
VI. Bespoke Furniture · Teak by Kyaw Sein

Cabinetry and furniture, made to be inherited.

The workshop makes fitted cabinetry and freestanding furniture in seasoned teak and rosewood, for the family's own houses and on commission. There is no catalogue. Each piece begins with a conversation.

Bespoke Furniture
Ethos · i
Weight

Solid timber throughout. A Kyaw Sein table takes two men to move, and that is the point.

Ethos · ii
Time

Teak is seasoned for years before it is cut, and finished by hand over weeks, not days.

Ethos · iii
Craftsmanship

Traditional joinery, no visible fixings, and a workshop that has trained its own carpenters since 1993.

Ethos · iv
Design

Contemporary heritage: Burmese forms, drawn again by U Kyaw Sein and Eindri Kyaw Sein.

Low live-edge teak slab table
Low table, live-edge slab.
Teak daybed with pleated linen cushions
Daybed, linen.
Teak console table with lamps
Console, squared teak.
Rosewood dining table
Dining table, rosewood.
VII. The Partnership

With Green + Partners Architects, a standard for Myanmar.

Kyaw Sein has partnered with Christopher Green RIBA and his practice, Green + Partners Architects of London and Yangon, to bring an international standard of design and delivery to Myanmar's luxury market. The practice's work includes Villa La Coste and the Château La Coste art centre in Provence, and heritage-led regeneration in London.

The arrangement is simple. Green + Partners draws; Kyaw Sein builds, plants and furnishes; and one standard runs from the first sketch to the last cushion.

Christopher Green
Christopher Green RIBA
Founder, Green + Partners Architects · London & Yangon
green-architects.com
Architecture
Green + Partners

London · Yangon. Founded 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; the furniture made in the family workshop.

Teak staircase in a private residence
VIII. Hotels we have built or restored
The full history
Wordmarks shown in place of hotel logos until the transparent artwork is supplied.
Ngapali Bay villa bedroom with four-poster and sea view
Ngapali Bay Villas & Spa — ကျွန်းတိုင်လိမ်ကုတင်နှင့် ဘင်္ဂလားပင်လယ်အော်ကို မြင်ရသော ဗီလာအိပ်ခန်း။
Ngapali Bay villa bathroom with brass basins
Ngapali Bay — ဗီလာရေချိုးခန်း၊ ပိတောက်သားစင်၊ ကြေးဘေစင်များ။
Ngapali Bay villa bedroom with four-poster and sea view
Ngapali Bay Villas & Spa — a villa bedroom, twisted teak posts, the Bay of Bengal beyond.
Ngapali Bay villa bathroom with brass basins
Ngapali Bay — the villa bathroom: rosewood vanity, brass basins, a painted ceiling.