Open to life and creativity in a space without walls
Some people endure their pet peeves in silence. JinR knocks them down. In her Beijing apartment and new lifestyle centre on the outskirts of the capital, walls have come tumbling down - or never been built because she loathes them.
'Who says you can only sleep in a bedroom, eat in a kitchen or read in a reading room?' she says. 'Why do we have to live with walls? Why do we have to live within walls, and walls of walls?'
JinR's desire for openness is understandable considering the site of her latest venture. Green T House Living (GTHL) - which builds on the success of her landmark Green T House in Beijing's trendy Chaoyang district - is, as she puts it, 'in the middle of nowhere'. That explains why the 15,000-square-metre establishment, in the Wen Yu River area 30 minutes' drive from Beijing, is being touted as a 'lifestyle destination' - somewhere to go to enjoy its pavilion-like restaurant in the middle of fields and, next year, a tearoom and open-plan villa called the Retreat, which can accommodate up to 20 guests.
GTHL, which also sells Jin R's traditional-meets-trendy homeware, marks her personal growth, she says. 'This place brings me joy. The birds make me happy. I see the sunset. I forget time.'
Despite the success of Green T House - which is a restaurant, gallery, cultural-event space and, as its name hints, a teahouse - JinR compares the two as though one is the prodigal child and the other something made in heaven. 'Green T House Living is more for the soul, the spirit, the heart - not for the physical, the chic, the dramatic,' she says. Its precursor, she acknowledges, is a place where you go 'to be seen'.
A haven for style mavens, Green T House is known for its modern interiors featuring idiosyncratic furniture, much of which is for sale. Several pieces are the first designs of JinR (born Zhang Jinjie; the 'R' is short for erzi, or child). They include 'T', 3.28-metre-high rosewood chairs with backs that bring to mind calligraphy brush strokes executed with vim; and 'House', stern 2.26-metre high-backed chairs that appear to stand to attention. The furniture offered at Green T House is as high as that at GTHL is low - and grounded.
Design ideas apparently come to JinR the way, she says, musical inspiration often arrives: unforced and unexpected. A musician for most of her life, she trained in the yang qin stringed instrument at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, touring internationally before becoming what Time magazine called 'China's first celebrity chef'.
As the story goes, after opening Green T House in 1997, the first incarnation of which was a three-seat establishment filled with antiques (the latest and third occupies 50,000sqft), JinR was forced into the kitchen when her chef quit without notice.
'They threw me on a chair facing my instrument,' she says metaphorically. 'I had no idea what I was going to do, but then I started playing.' Displaying her distinctive style in cuisine and decor took her back onto the world stage. In 2002, she helped establish Singapore's My Humble House restaurant and was invited to participate in the Lion City's World Gourmet Summit. A year later, she did the same for Bangkok's Liu Restaurant in collaboration with the Conrad hotel. Last year, she designed the chic Chinese restaurant Yumcha, in New York. And this year, she'll expand her reach to Hong Kong.
Apart from participating in the Hospitality Design Conference at the Convention and Exhibition Centre yesterday, she's scheduled to open a Green T House at Cyberport in November. 'It's a Green T House, but more of a Green T House Living concept,' she says of the waterfront establishment that will be a restaurant, gallery and retail outlet selling books, music, furniture and other homeware.
Why the move from the kitchen into the rest of the home? 'I enjoy beautiful things,' she says, describing her lifestyle products as simple and spiritual. 'If something is decorative, you'll be tired of it in a month. These things educate my soul.'
