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Chinois-inspired touches in home decor have been around for centuries but the current trend won't have your home looking like your grandmother's.
Many designers, in Asia and the United States, are taking the fundamentals of Chinese furniture and turning them into something contemporary but almost kitsch. Instead of the standard blue and white, the colours are lavish. Instead of classically curved furniture, the frames are stark and geometric. And those koi fish and porcelain dogs that are a staple of every Chinese home? Imagine them in rich colours, looking Andy Warhol-esque.
Designer Wei Lieh Lee (www.onthewei.com), who splits his time between Singapore and New York, has taken Chinois motifs to a new level. His gazebo chess set (below and right) is a four-post gazebo from which Chinese lanterns, reminiscent of chess pieces in red and white, are suspended.
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The classic Chinese chair is given an avant-garde twist in the China Chair Project (www.chinachairproject.com), an exhibition moving from Florida to London in March, having debuted at Art Basel Miami last year. A clutch of Chinese artists have turned the idea of the chair on its head; imagine one made entirely of metal, including ball bearings.
Adorable plastic or ceramic Buddha or Kuan Yin piggy banks, by Rocket USA (www.rocketusa.com), will make you smile every time you slip coins into them. The Koi Gold Collection by Raymond Waites (www.studiolx.com), comprising vases and a tray in gold, adorned with painted koi. Williams-Sonoma Home (www.wshome.com) has pillows with needlepoint patterns in dragon motifs in cool, bright colours.
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