Edmund Bell’s China Girl Trend

Edmund Bell starts their Global Traveller Series with China Girl: sometimes modest and sometimes opulent, exciting or subdued, colourful and textural.

Chinese interiors are always thoughtful and most unassuming with its never fading appearance. It has an innate way of blending traditional with new in a beautiful and rich manner. Design direction can be traced back as far as 1000 BC, Chinese culture and decoration has evolved into a design style synonymous with a sense of harmony, fine decoration and craft, and incredible management of colour and space.

Chinese patterns typically boast deep historical roots with a subdued sense of luxury and artistic detail. Subtle abstract representation is often identified in the five elements of the Chinese zodiac – wood, fire, earth, metal and water.

There are so many characteristics of the modern Chinese interior – too many to remember, but notably a few highlights are: bamboo elements, lacquer craft, separating screens, lattice work, chinoiserie decorative wallpapers, Ming dynasty sculptures and cloisonné detail.

Typically, sleek surfaces of dark lacquered wood, dimly lit decorative lanterns, lattice work furniture and screens with colour palettes of warm neutrals and punchy saturated tones of red, imperial blue, onyx and emerald green and gold.

Chinese interior design trends

The Marie Kondo effect, though Japanese in origin, is associated with pan-Asian design. Therefore, order and only having items in your home with purpose, which is in fact a Chinese custom, has led to a peak in the decluttering trend. A Chinese-style interior rarely accumulates unnecessary objects, which are believed to drain the room and those within it of energy.

Other Chinese interior design ideas include a commitment to natural materials – a trend that’s far-reaching and a huge part of the global interior design commentary.

The Chinese perspective is about preserving nature, honouring nature and appreciating the positive effect using natural resources can have on a person’s wellbeing. By bringing nature into our homes, it helps us to let go of the from the bustle of everyday life, whether this is wooden furniture, rugs woven from natural fibres or using stones as objects of beauty and spiritual grounding.

Another trend that’s arisen from Chinese interior design is the use of screens to divide a room. Because over the last decade or two, there has been a seismic shift towards open-plan living, we’ve gradually begun to drift back towards the appeal of broken-plan. Separated rooms mean we divide the space between cosy pockets and zones of activity.

The Chinese tradition of using decorative screens in the room to section your space is something that’s being applied to large space in our homes as an interpretation of modern Chinese interior design. (source: luxedeco)

Contact Edmund Bell through their BCFA Product Finder Page