The specialists guide to Chinese antiques.

While trolling around on the net, I came across this very nice blog post from Posh Living which does a wonderful job of explaining what chinoiserie is which is.  A main staple amoung designers, chinoiserie design elements in a room are timeless and sophisticated.  Since we have talked in the past about how chinoiserie screens [...]

[Read more →]

Here’s a somewhat arcane post, yet one that’s incredibly useful for anyone who is either an interior designer, furniture designer or even just someone redecorating their home with one of the many 3d programs like Google sketchup. Which brings me to the topic of this post: where to find 3d models of Chinese furniture
 

So, here [...]

[Read more →]

This wouldn’t a proper blog on Chinese furniture and culture without a least a mention of the Chinese contemporary artist Ai Wei Wei, who reinterprets traditional and classical furniture designs in unexpected ways. In one instance, “officials hat chairs” are carved  from solid blocks of white marble (and with no joinery I might add). In [...]

[Read more →]

We have a fair amount of Tibetan painted furniture, though most of it is not genuine Tibetan antique furniture (despite what many claim). Most are either new or vintage, though we do sometimes find real antiques. In general, it tends to be a bit too bright and colorful for my tastes, though nevertheless, Tibetan furniture [...]

[Read more →]

I stumbled upon this rather amusing post on designaddict.com which talks about Maarten Baas’s, recent Jully 2008 exhibition at Contrasts gallery in Shanghai.
While participating in Contrasts’ residency program, which brings Western artists to China to study local artistic and cultural practices, Baas became fascinated with traditional Chinese woodcarving; this exhibition is dominated by the results [...]

[Read more →]

In this recent gloomy economic climate, it would be nice to add a bit of color and I though sharing some of the neat distressed finishes we have been working on, might brighten up the days a bit.

 The hand rubber, distressed finish sky blue hutch adds some pleasantness to the room and may even pass [...]

[Read more →]

For those furniture importers, wholesalers, trade buyers, interior designers or furniture retailers in the business who were unable to make it to this years Shanghai furniture fair, its worth heading over to our China sourcing blog to see what you missed.
 
Shabby chic remains a strong look and some of this years other nicer offerings included [...]

[Read more →]

Any furniture retailer will tell you that, many times the “end all be all” for retail buyers will be just how the item integrates into their home space. Sure, comfort, durability and quality are all top consumer preferences but overall dimensions, depth and height along with usability all have a lot to do with furniture-buying [...]

[Read more →]

Recently we discussed the popularity of furniture constructed from salvaged materials like this reclaimed elm wood dining table and therefore it should be no surprise that the according to House Beautiful, the whitewashed look along with lightened wood, bleached finishes and limed finishes are growing just as much in popularity as well whether in Asian [...]

[Read more →]

I was in the warehouse the other day looking over some pieces when I was reminded how much reclaimed, recycled and/or renewable materials are definitely a growing trend. A quick Google turns up a range of articles from Reclaimed furniture: Give trees a chance to buzz on various designer blogs. Even [...]

[Read more →]

A while back in our post “Are Asian design influences here to stay?” we were discussing the longevity and staying power of Asian Design Influences and Asian Decorating Style. I must say, that when poking around in the interior designer blog community this really seems to be the case. Asian style furniture is [...]

[Read more →]

There is a great little blog apartmenttherapy.com which covers New York, San Francisco, Chicago & New York. Its really less of a blog, and rather more of a series of columns written and posted by interior designers.
We love the look of antiques or imports mixed with more modern furniture. One piece that almost always fits [...]

[Read more →]

Landfair Furniture has an interesting blog which seems to cater specifically to topics of interest to interior designers. As interior designers tend to drive the market I would assume looking to them for clues as to whats “up and coming” would be a good idea. Which is why I think its interesting they have an [...]

[Read more →]

I came across these amazing photos on a Chinese website (though unfortunately I do not know who the photographer is). Now, normally this blog is about Chinese Antiques and the ethnic home furnishings industry (and me complaining about the headache of dealing with Chinese suppliers) but I thought these photos were a great reminder of [...]

[Read more →]

Chinese furniture is becoming more and more popular, surely about 50% of the decorated homes have an item one or the other Asian style. Before the 90’s Asian furniture used in western interiors was often of a abstract, cold, zen style. Mono-colored cabinets, without any curls. Often plain red or black lacquered. But in the [...]

[Read more →]