signifies a new high style.
What are the emerging furniture trends among designers and clients? What is apparent is the taste for European furniture including Minotti, Cappellini, Rolf Benz and Ligne Roset. While it must be said that the look of contemporary furniture, with its focus on simplicity and minimal lines, gives an inescapable uniformity of shape to today's swarm of square-edged sofas, this in turn is balanced by a reliance on 20th century classics-for example, the Mies van der Rohe settee, the Corbusier chaise, the Barcelona chair, the Eames chair and the Arco lamp are some of the modern classics that serve to anchor the look of many contemporary living rooms. Even when these design icons aren't present in the original, modern Asian designers' re-interpretations of these classics reveal the impact these design canons have had on inspiring a new generation of 21st century designers. For example, in a condo living room in Bangkok (page 124), what appears to be an Arco lamp is a look-alike with a lampshade consisting of clusters of real silkworm cocoons, creating a soft glow with unexpected texture that reflects a new approach to lighting.
A bold blue cushion enhances the draw of this all-white room.
This elegant vase fashioned from blue glass is by Seiki Torige, whose works are now a fixture in the Asian design world.
Oriental antiques blend seamlessly with the symmetry of this modern living room.
The graceful lines of the Emmemobili spring wenge chairs from Marquis give a contemporary feel to this open-plan living room.
Japanese-style seating adds the illusion of space in this living-cum-dining area.
This living room in a house in Singapore appears to be floating above the pool that run's the length of the room. Ultra-modern vases add an extra dimension of sophistication.
Now enjoying new heights in popularity, leather is surfacing as the chosen material in cushions, flooring and furnishings. These poufs are in woven and lizard pattern leather.
Yet in the midst of this insistent celebration of western chic, Southeast Asian homeowners still eschew a complete submission to artifice. They retain a sense of place by adding their personal choices of decor elements from Asia; paintings and sculptures by contemporary local artists and Asian artefacts that reflect the human instinct to forge an identity with the surrounding environment The use of local materials also adds a distinctive Asian identity to the scene. In Thailand especially, local design firms such as Pantaa and Yothaka are giving native organic materials new life by creating innovative new designs such as lamps made of wicker, loofah and silk-worm cocoons, and chairs, cushions and vases made from water hyacinth to create new shapes and textures that are uniquely Asian in look and feel.
With furniture shapes and colors at their most minimal (white on white or black and white being the standard colors of the modern palette), the focus then falls on furnishing materials to add visual interest and textures. Leather, whether genuine or faux, is enjoying an all-time high in popularity as a furnishing material. Leather tiles are the new ultra-luxe flooring material, and leather poufs and ottomans are making a comeback; the new look is the leather cube covered in mock croc, faux lizard, basket-weave leather strips, and buttery pleather. Leather area rugs have also broken through.
The colors of this painting by Canadian artist Jonathan Forrest provided the inspiration for the interior design of this spacious house in Singapore.
Bright red flowers add a striking note in this otherwise honey-colored open-plan living and dining area in an apartment in Singapore.
Leather cushions make their mark in various forms. In one Bangkok bachelor's home (page 90), all the sofas (Minotti, of course) in the entire house are padded with leather cushions from Fendi. Cushions come in plaited leather squares, distressed leather rectangles, furry goatskin, shiny tanned leather, and patchwork suede. In many homes, leather is a material favored by male homeowners as a look that spells slick masculine sophistication.
When it comes to textiles, "nubby" is the new buzzword in fabrics. The most cutting-edge living rooms sport cushions that are fuzzy, knotted, furry, or hairy with threads. In the Modern Contemporary Suite in Bangkok's Sky Villas, an armchair and matching cushion are upholstered in fuzzy black faux fur seemingly skinned from a teddy bear (page 36)
Though Italian furniture and barely-there colors dominate the new look in Asian living rooms, what distinguishes the new Asian living room from being just a carbon copy of its western counterpart is the subtle presence of the Asian aesthetic. The particular look of east-meets-west is perhaps best embodied in the work of Singaporean interior designer Kathryn Kng, designer of The Metropolitan Bangkok and other luxury resorts in the region. It is a minimalist, soft-toned palette that combines the latest in European furniture design with singular accents from one or two artfully chosen Asian antiques which lend the perfect balance to the new fusion look.
For example, in the penthouse suites at The Metropolitan Bangkok (pages 42-43), the key furnishings are cutting-edge Italian sofas and lamps, while the Asian accents come from an oriental-style coffee table, a bamboo opium bed and hand-embroidered pillows from India. A similar aesthetic is seen in a Singapore residence designed by Eco-id Architects (pages 22-23). Here the architects designed an international-style minimalist space and the homeowners created an exquisite balance between the white-on-white western furniture with their Asian art collection of Khmer pots and Chinese paintings.
Warm orange walls and a richly woven tribal rug evoke the colors and patterns of Morocco in this Bangkok home. Balanced with lowlying coffee table and seating, the scene embodies the new look of the international living room.
Paired with a simple arrangement of grass, this Hugues Chevalier leather armchair makes a thoroughly modern statement
Modern Asian art is emerging in a big way in interior decor-partly due to the increased frequency and scope of travel that is now an aspect of life. Artworks by Bali-based American painters Symon and Tracy Hamer and Thai artist Tawul Praman, and the fantastic glass creations by Japanese glass sculptor Seiki Torige are found in the region's most style-conscious homes. Homes now have gallery spaces in hallways, entrance foyers, stairway landings-on top of living rooms-to show-case art collections.
The taste for a minimalist aesthetic in today's living rooms show's that contemporary Asian living embraces the new look of global chic. Combined with their passion for cutting-edge Italian furniture and lighting, Asian homeowners take pride in sporting an unmistakably local, sophisticated design aesthetic that proclaims the region has switched on to contemporary cool. The new Asian living room reflects the way homeowners embrace the whole world, celebrating the best in modern international design with the distinctive personal touches that mark where they have come from or where they are living. It's an international attitude that reflects the way we live now.
in