Chinese red acrylic yoke back armchair from Green T. House in Beijing
I was reading over at Beijing Notebook about these translucent acrylic Chinese horseshoe chairs she saw at the Green T. House in Beijing. With clean and classic Ming style lines, these round backed chairs are a very updated idea on an extremely old concept. Very neat idea – probably not particularly easy to manufacture.
Having spent so much time focusing on Chinese antiques, its refreshing to pull back a moment and look a contemporary twists on antique styles. And there is no better place then 1stdibs. And since I have had this post sitting in my “drafts” for quite a while, and suddenly wondered “why is this not published?” – well, no time like the present!
Assemblage in Chicago, has some interesting items on their 1stdibs page like this Vintage 1970′s Maitland Smith Gilt & Ivory Leather Asian-Form Coffee Table available here or this “Asian vibe” Lucite Scroll Form Coffee Table, one of my personal favorites.
Maitland Smith Gilt & Ivory Leather Asian-Form Coffee Table
Thick Lucite Scroll Form Coffee Table
A cerused Finish Chinese Altar Table – another updated modern take on this classic Asian form – this time in limed oak.
Cerused Finish Chinese Altar Table
Asian inspired Silver Leaf Asian Chairs
or this extremely cool asian inpired silver leaf coffee table available here.
Silver Leaf Asian Form Coffee Table
In addition to the silver leaf armchairs above there are several other interesting takes on Chinese chair designs like these Maitland Smith Chinese style arm chairs from Tom Gibbs Studio which almost look as if they were made from stone, or these exceptionally classy Asian Inspired Italian Brass Armchairs at Gaspare Asaro in New York.
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 does have its place and if the designs and motifs are subtle, they make beautiful accent pieces.
A while back we had a few old door panels which went out in a container, and surprise surprise, I stumbled upon our doors, modified into dining tables and coffee tables on the website of J.W Kinsey’s Woodcraft (Cabinetry/custom furniture makers) in Modesto California. Looks like Josh Kinsey did a pretty nice job of both preserving the original items and turning them into something more functional in the home.
He did a nice job of solving the issue of how to mount the door on the frame without modifying it (notice the strut across the bottom of the door) . The table bases seem to work.
The rest of the photos are on their site at:
http://jwkinseyswoodcraft.com/jwkinseys%20woodcraft/projects%20portfolio/Portfolio.html
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.
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The hand rubber, distressed finish sky blue hutch adds some pleasantness to the room and may even pass as French Provincial, as does the lemon flavored traditional Chinese stool with a worn down finish for that “clean but aged look.”
Lacquer colors like Popsicle, Cherry Candy, Green Apple and Salty Licorice bring more to mind then just plain old furniture.
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French country – Chinese country – whatever it is, its pretty cool. These pieces were on their way to new homes.
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 preferences as well. According to High Point Market industry reports, “Foremost, you must understand that the typical furniture buyer is a she, not a he.” Which means “she” is probably not going to spend time attempting to fit a round peg into a square hole (Unlike “he” who will either just hammer it in, or pull out the tools and change the dimensions of the hole).
Sometimes though even the most experienced sales people need some extra help. So what better place the photo sharing site Flickr to see just how real people are integrating items into their homes then on. Unlike glossy magazines like Better Homes and Gardens or ELLE DECOR these homes are real.
There is a article by Jim Green in the furniture industry publication Furniture Today entitled “Knowing Too Much” which touches briefly on this subject.
” A nightstand is a small piece of furniture, with or without doors and drawers, normally placed beside the head of a bed. It provides a surface to set a lamp or place a glass of water, a book, or pair of reading glasses. BUT…a nightstand might not be a nightstand at all. It may, in fact, be a chairside commode. It also may be a telephone table or a stand for a small 20” TV set.
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 home furniture or European styles. Known in Chinese as “Shi ni,“ Lime, is a naturally occurring calcium compound which has a wide range of applications and used from livestock products to concrete.
Limed finishes as sometimes also called Cerused or “pickled finishes” and vary depending on the nature of the underlying materials. Reclaimed wood will generally produced a more rustic and “aged look,” whereas new materials will feel a bit neater – even if deliberately antiqued. A look at two sample below illustrates the differences seen in materials. Both have been given a limed finished.
The first board is reclaimed material. The second is new but “antiqued” to look more aged. The difference is even more pronounced when viewing whole pieces. A recent factory visit turned up these two examples. The first is a rustic farm table from ACF China and is constructed using salvaged materials. The second is a rattan chest on a stand from Four Hands and is from new materials. Both have pickled finishes.
The specialists guide to Chinese antiques is Stephen Fry proof thanks to caching by WP Super Cache