Modern Chinese Furniture: Seat for T. by JinR

We found them ! Remember, that my girlfriends and I had lunch at the Green T. House Living in Shunyi, outside Beijing last October and we saw these awesome red acrylic horseshoe shape Chinese chairs (see my post) and wondered ever since if they would be for sale? My friend Yvalie, beside other talents, she is a very talented web surfer, found them at the Green T. House online shop and at an US online shop here.

Quan Chair red acrylic (as seen at Green T. House Living)  

Interior of the Green T. House in Sanlitun, Beijing

The above acrylic chair is also available in clear and in another shape. When you click on the first picture, you will see the price, and this is not so funny anymore... 3,755 USD.

The Ming Chair (left) with a 2,30 m high back, costs even more. What a pity, these chairs are so cool.

The Green T. House(s) is famous for JinR's creative concept offering sophisticated dishes on unique plates in a minimalistic surrounding while sitting on special seats. Now JinR has even launched her "Seat for T." collection.

Sometimes it is difficult to believe that behind all this beauty is just one master mind. JinR, originally a musician, when she became a tea house owner in Sanlitun, later a restaurateur, interior designer of her restaurants and now even a furniture designer. I think she is not only very pretty, but also very smart and has some very good consultants working for her. An allround entrepreneur that I admire!

JinR the creator of the Green T. House

Red Acrylic Chinese Chairs

These traditional Chinese horseshoe shaped chairs are not of red lacquered wood. They are acrylic chairs ! They look super cool in the stylish "Green T. House Living" in Shunyi, Beijing.

My stay in Beijing was fantastic, I still have not figured out where to start. So I am posting two pics my friend took during our lunch at the Green T. House living. She would like to know where to get these acrylic chairs. Anyone can help?

photo source:  N.U.

Beijing: February Urbane issue

The February and second issue of urbane is out. I checked it online today - the whole magazine can be read online - and saw the Water Cube on the cover (I posted about it before).

They feature an interview with John Pauline, the architect from Sydney-based architecture firm PTW, which is in charge for the project.

They also feature my article about my German friend's house in Lanebridge. She is a fashion designer and I posted about Ira Walendy before. She moved with her husband and two kids to Beijing in 2005 (like we did). It was really interesting to do a "homestory By Design". I got the chance to work together with talented photographer Judy Zhou and was asked to advise on rooms and angles. We had far more great shots then got published. Regarding all the beautiful pictures, the editor made it a 6 page story instead the usual 4 pages.

See below how an expat family - whose housing is covered by the employing company - could live in Beijing. Not too bad! Read the article online here, page 48 ff OR click below on the pictures to enlarge:





One of the pictures that did not get published is the minimalistic fire place with a free floating stone shelf (photographed by me):





And here a list (left) that I deem very interesting for travellers :
It is the latest list of   Beijing Boutique Hotels   - published by Urbane magazine.
(click on the list on the left to enlarge !).

update:
I found Urbane today at Jenny Lou. It is distributed again together with That's Beijing.

tbjhome features my favorite Design Blogs

This is the cover of the tbjhome December 2007 issue.
It features my article about my favorite design blogs.

I am a writer!

At least once in a while, when I am blogging or when I am writing for a magazine like tbjhome (now: urbane). It is a free monthly English lifestyle and interior design magazine that is distributed together with That's Beijing (now: The Beijinger), the essential monthly guide for life in Beijing. It was fun working with the editor Jie Yang and with the bloggers Danielle de Lange, Grace Bonney and Jennifer Dwyer (see links below). Thanks for the cooperation. I loved to work from home, anytime, best time for me is nighttime.

These are the content pages with a short bio of the contributors (me included) and the the article - click on pics to enlarge:




I came up with the idea to introduce some creative design blogs to the readers of the magazine instead of design books. They liked the idea, and gave me even two pages. However the editor said they only want design blogs that have their own domain name because blogspot is blocked in China (censorship).
So I choose from my favorites:
the style files by Danielle de Lange, The Netherlands
design*sponge by Grace Bonney, New York U.S.
and
The Peak of Chic by Jennifer Dwyer, Atlanta U.S.

At the end the editor decided to at least mention three more of my favorite design blogs that are on blogspot (if anybody in China faces access difficulties, go via pkblogs.com!):
Absolutely Beautiful Things by Anna Spiro, Brisbane Australia
Decor8 by Holly Becker, Boston U.S.
and
Designers' Block by Di Overton
National Park Northumberland U.K.

As thinking green is important for our environment, I was looking for a green blog and found inhabitat. This blog, founded by Jill Fehrenbacher, New York is entirely devoted to green design.

Two more inspiring blogs were suggested by the editor:
Core77 - the industrial design supersite
and
NOTCOT - a visual filtration of ideas + aesthetics + amusement

If you do not live in Beijing or just can't get a hard copy of the latest issue of tbjhome, browse here.

Get inspired!

Commune of the Children

For the Golden Week we went outside Beijing, not far, only 1 hour North East on Badaling Highway and took exit 16 to the Commune at the Great Wall, a kind of architecture exhibition resort managed by Kempinski.

We had a great time. It was the picture perfect setting with blue autumn skies and views of the Great Wall of China.

And then, there was this amazing kids' club: 'Commune of the Children'. Just opposite the club house conveniently located this white two storey house is entirely designed for tots (2y.) to teens (12y.). When we first entered to have a look, we were welcomed by an English speaking Chinese lady which had time to show us around. I was so overwhelmed by that lovely little kids' paradise with so many beautiful details, I wanted to be a kid spending the day painting on the floor, baking cookies, making moon cakes, planting herbs, scoring goals outdoors, disguising in fancy costumes or having a tea from a tiny wooden tea pot. The furniture and facilities are designed according to kids’s heights and the interior deco is bright and colorful. I could not help and took lots of photos. Here is my selection:

Painting on the floor in the Art Center

Cooking Class for little bakers

25 steps to the second floor with more fun areas...

Tea or Coffee ?

At the end of the day there was a fashion show of cultural custumes. --> Parents and kids very happy!

The was also an entire room just for book lovers having lots of English and Chinese children books on display.

The kids' club opens daily from 9am to 5pm.
Through out the week different activities are scheduled form 9.30 am to 4.30 pm.
The kids' club is open on national holidays.
Half day is 150 RMB per kid, or 290 RMB for the full day.
No reservation is required.

You can have either lunch together with your kid on the terrace of the clubhouse or have the kids' lunch menu (around 60 RMB) delivered to the kids club.

Birthday parties can be booked - and a fancy lunch for the parents...

Commune at the Great Wall together with Commune of the Children is an absolutely cool place to visit. You escape Beijing's air pollution and can enjoy nature, art and outdoor activities including hiking the Commune's private part of the Great Wall, that is only accessible for hotel guests and visitors.

For more pictures feel free to visit my Commune flickr set.

Chinese Wallpaper

I discovered the beauty of Chinese wall'paper'. They are mostly hand painted on silk and very expensive. As the Chinese are good in copying everything, I went to the home decorating markets to look for the same beauty on normal paper for affordable prices. But I found only some less interesting prints on vinyl paper. So far. I still have that idea of having a room decorated in Chinese Style or a bathroom or guest toilet covered with Chinese Wallpaper.

Here are some pretty wall decorations - above and below hand painted on silk, available via Lehman & Qian in Shanghai and Karolina Lehman in Beijing.







The last three pictures I found via Wallpaper and digital murals on Flickr.

The Beijing Peony

The pink peony is Chinese painters' favorite flower. And the pink peony is in a famous Beijing pattern. The pink peony often comes along with a blue rose and some exotic bird on red, blue and green background. Although it is a beautiful pattern, the business man and woman of the souvenir shops focus more on silk. I know only one shop selling peony pattern pillow cases (in Liangma Flower Market, stand 23, one case for 15 yuan). Some shops sell peony pattern notebooks. I personally own about a dozen pillow cases with the peony pattern and bought peony pattern fabric in blue from Miyuan Fabric Market to make a table cloth. Recently I discovered the peony pattern on a postcard (picture above).

However, Philippe Starck, him again, seems to have discovered the same interest in the peony pattern (maybe while designing the interior of Lan restaurant in Beijing). I was well amazed to see his Ghost chairs padded with 'my' Beijing peonies.

Again: China Style goes gobal...

Photo: retromodern.com

Chinese Furniture in Modern Life

While Chinese people run to IKEA to decorate their modern homes with western style furniture, China style is popular in the West.

Furniture in Asia has Chinese roots. Thais as other Asians used to live on the floor (sleeping, eating, sitting). While in China in the 12th century the use of stools and chairs was widely spread. The Ming period (1368-1644) was considered as the golden age of Chinese furniture. Timeless simplicity and perfect proportions of Ming furniture allow these pieces to fit even today in the most modern homes around the world. Later, heavy ornate carvings were the style of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Take a look into today's interior design magazines. Pictures of beautiful modern houses with blue and white ginger jars on the chimney or a horse shoe shaped Chinese chair in the hallway are never missing.

A piece of Chinese furniture can make you dream of far away countries and can be functional at the same time. Chinese altar tables serving as console tables, opium bed serving as coffee tables, wedding cabinets serving as TV storage, pharmacy cabinets serving as CD storage, wooden rice container serving as magazine stand… the list is long.

Living in Beijing and exploring Panjiayuan Antique Market, Gaobeidian Village or Chaowai Furniture Warehouse I can find lots of examples. I will keep you posted!

And if the Chinese furniture looks 'too Chinese' lacquer them in white colour!

Remark: Funny, the nicest Chinese furniture we saw was in Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong and not in Beijing.

Photos: from different magazines showing from top left clockwise: white lacquered daybed, bedroom with two wedding cabinets in pastel colour, bedroom with wedding cabinet Ming Style, bedroom with storage boxes and Chinese door serving as paravent.

China Style

China is conquering the world with style.

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) are the two famous styles that influenced Chinese furniture, pottery and art. In the 1930ies another style developed in Shanghai, the Paris of the East. A fusion of Eastern and Western styles including both Chinese bright colours and Western Art Deco elements created the famous so called 'China Chic' or 'Shanghai Chic' style.

In the 21st century China style is hotter than ever! It was never out of demand. Today, you do not have to travel the Silk Road to get Chinese decorative items. Interior Design shops around the globe offer Chinese lamps, vases or the famous wedding cabinets. Hollywood celebrities wearing qipao, form-fitting Chinese silk dresses. Chinese modern artists are best sellers. Stylish Chinese restaurants, bars and courtyard houses are en vogue among foreigners and Chinese. A copy of the private China Club in Hong Kong has opened in Berlin in 2003.




All pictures are from the book CHINA STYLE(photos by Michael Freeman, text by Sharon Leece, printed in Singapore by PERIPLUS). The small pictures above represents 'China Modern' Style. The larger pictures above are taken at the China Club, Hong Kong decorated in 'Shanghai Chic' Style and at a private residence in Shanghai, French Concession. (I love the lemon green painted wall!)

Remark: I own this book and love to look at the pictures. After this post I think it is time to also study it as Sharon Leece has done a great work. Here an extract from her table of contents:

'China Style Goes Global, Ming and Qing Elegance Redefined, The New Mandarin Style, An Eclectic Mix, Chinoiserie Old and New, The New Orientalism, Brilliant Baroque, The New Shanghai Style, Retro Modern, Art Deco Decadence, Shanghai Chic, The New Jazz Age, China Modern, Stylish Minimalism, East West Fusion, Zen Sanctuary, Decorating China Style, Ming and Qing Furniture, China Country Style ...'

Doesn't this sound interesting? At Amazon.com you can search inside the bookfor more pictures!

Chinoiserie

In Rome, just 5 minutes by motorino from the Spanish stairs, in a beautiful park of palm and lemon trees lives Mafalda Princess of Hesse with her family in a red coloured villa. The Villa Polisena was featured as ‘La Dolce Villa’ in the Architectural Digest Magazine of April 2007 (German Issue). What caught my eyes was the Chinese salon with an impressing Chinese painting style Wallpaper.

The Princess was interviewed about the story behind the house. Her grandfather Prince Philipp von Hesse came from Germany to Rome in the early 20ties to study architecture. On a party he met her grandmother, Mafalda of Savoy, the daughter of King Vittorio Emanuele III. of Savoy and Queen Elena. When they got married in 1925 they were given a piece of land - the land the villa is now located. It was the former vegetable garden of the Italian Royal Family. The construction of the villa was influenced by the taste of the Nobles at that time, the style of the 18th century. This was when Chinese Salons were en vogue. ‘Such a room used to express that you were well-educated and widely travelled’, tells the Princess. The Chinoiserie-wallpaper was repaired by three generations. Some mandarins become blond nevertheless.

Chinoiserie was the style of European art in the 18th century modelled on Chinese art. Chinese products such as silk, porcelain, paintings and artifacts came to Europe via the famous Silk Road in the 17th and 18th century.

Photo: Oliver Mark, AD

Beijing: Courtyard House sells for Record Price

A courtyard home in Beijing near the picturesque Houhai lake has sold for a record 14.2 million dollars (110 million yuan) earlier this month.

A courtyard dwelling, or Siheyuan in Chinese, is an enclosed atrium house, a type of residence most famously found in Beijing. Courtyard houses are also called hutongs or hutong houses while ‘hutong’ in Chinese means only lane or alley.

As Chinese people consider the hutong houses as not modern and their inhabitants as poor, many are being destroyed to make way for modern apartment buildings. However lots of foreigners would love to live in a renovated courtyard home. A renovation includes the installation of water and electricity supply. Otherwise you would need to use the public toilets in your hutong (lane). But often the houses are not easy to access through the small lanes. And it is not easy to find a suitable and affordable one.

A few courtyards are being converted into luxury residences. The Houhai one was sold for 36,324 yuan per square metre, almost double the average price of residential properties nearby, the Beijing News said. A local property developer had been trying to sell the courtyard home since late 2005 after fixing it up but few people expressed interest until early this year, it said.

Last year I was invited to one of these luxury courtyard homes. It was renovated and decorated in a modern yet cosy style. The tenant had inherited some Biedermeier furniture and added modern and Asian elements. We had a BBQ in the garden at night and the whole house was illuminated. Some months later I recognized it right away when I found these pictures in a magazine.




All three pictures are from Better Homes and Gardens magazine in China (issue no. 8 - January 2007). The residence contains even two hutong houses with two atrium. The bigger one was the main house. All single elements were connected with a corridor of glass (last picture). If you want to walk from the kitchen to the bedroom you could either walk inside around the atrium through the corridor or you could walk outside across the atrium. The second smaller atrium belonged to the guest house. The renovation was time consuming and expensive although the former resident denied the latter. Today he does not live here anymore. So I guess this beautiful hutong house is empty at the moment. What a pity. But even more pity is the uncertain future of this beautiful house. It was saved from demolition once. But the neighbouring homes are already gone.

The record selling price of the Houhai courtyard house was featured in That's Beijing (7 Days in Beijing - Today's Alarming Statistic of April 20); and in Yahoo News.

See also my other post about Beijing Courtyards

Beijing Shopping: DARA

DARA is offering elegant Asian and Western home decor. It runs its business since 1998 and has now three stores and an art gallery in Beijing. The product range inculdes chinese and western style furniture, 'antique' accessories, dishware, cushions, lamps, lush fabrics, mirrors, pottery and more. The art gallery in Dashanzi Art Zone 798 shows contempory art. It hosts as well the DARA club, a unique showroom space. DARA is appreciated by chinese and foreign customers. In their high glossy brochure they claim Hollywood director Oliver Stone to be one of their customers. Not only have they private customers but also real estate projects asked them to furnish their showrooms. DARA products are pricy in comparison to the home decor price level in Beijing. However they have been cultivating their brand when brand consciousness was not formed yet in China - and now they belong to the top addresses when it comes to interior decoration in Beijing.



Unfortunately the website is only for Chinese customers in chinese language and taste: see DARA.com.cn

Beijing Design Magazine Casa International

My little newspaper magazine vendor at the corner does not have the latest issue yet from: Casa International.

It has the greatest pictures of houses all around the world and it is printed on high quality paper and it cost only 30 RMB (3 Euro). It is somehow a Chinese - Italian co-operation. It is printed in English and Chinese.




Above is the cover of the December 2006 issue (left).

And the picture on the right shows the office in Beijing. I would love to go to work in such an office! It is at Ritan Park.

Beijing Restaurant: LAN

Zhang Lan, chairwoman of the South Beauty chain of restaurants, has recently opened her 21st restaurant. These upscale Chinese restaurants serve Sichuan favourites in stylish environment. But LAN's interior is different from all others.

LAN is an incredible restaurant-bar-nightclub wonderland. It is huge in all dimensions:

- 6,000 sqm space
- Capacity of up to 1,000 diners at one time
- Several millions of dollars costs
- Designed by world-famous designer Philippe Starck.

Where other designers think about trend, Philippe Starck says, he thinks about ‘vision, love, surrealism, poetry, surprise’. Not to compare with Starck’s famous Felix bar in Hong Kong’s Peninsula Hotel, Starck’s LAN is a high stylised mish mash of chaise longues, rhino heads, ornate mirrors, leather seats, chandeliers of plastic junk, classical paintings suspended, face down, from the ceiling. The private rooms in style of Mongolian tents and the ‘powder rooms’ are a must see.

LAN, Starck’s first project on the Mainland, definitely adds a new spirit to Beijing.

And soon to New Year too! Site renovation for a new restaurant in New York City's Times Square begins later this year. The $3 million to $4 million Philippe Starck-designed New York locale is to include a Chinese modern art gallery.

By 2008 Zhang Lan wants 100 restaurants, at least half of them overseas. Other spots should include Japan, France, Italy and India.

LAN's price category: $$$

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