Posted by sabine7
Shows | 07 Jul 08 | Comments (0) | Stumble
Chinese design with a French accent:
One store I definitely want to peruse next time I’m Shanghai is Design MV’s showroom in the French Concession; for this trip, the studio’s booth had to suffice. Their pieces were among my favorites—very refined but also lighthearted. (It’s no wonder the three-year-old company is one of few locals with a strong international presence.) Chinese designer Ming Xu and his French architect wife, Virginie Moriette, give a decadent spin to abstract traditional Chinese forms: sculptural stainless-steel tables, bent wood chairs layered with silk brocade, a powder-coated metal chandelier that I wanted to slip into my handbag when no one was looking. Like Richard, Ming also said he frequently retools his collection to elude copycats. “Knock offs are a very disturbing phenomenon. But we’ve tried to use it to our advantage—it’s forced us to reinvent and stay fresh.” Commendably, he also spoke of striving to keep prices affordable so more consumers have access to their designs—another way to beat the copycats at their own game.
