Home Decorating Trend: Asian Meets Contemporary in Interior Design
Jay Johnson Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 10:30AM 
Asian accents at Two Buttons Gallery, Frenchtown, NJ
Interior designers are always looking for trends to help guide their clients through the choppy waters of tastemaking. Trends, as we know, can be good and bad. Trends, if they're too "trendy," can come and go quickly, leaving your design project looking dated and so last year. But other trends are strong design currents that may be good to follow because they make good sense and are design-worthy styles. One example is combining Asian accents with contemporary furniture. This makes sense on many levels.
- Asian accents add international flair to interiors, as well as providing decorative points of interest.
- Contemporary furniture oftentimes borrows lines and motifs from traditional Asian furnishings, so there's a definite harmonious blend of new and old when combined with Asian antiques and accessories.
- The West has been fascinated with the exotic styling of Asian decor for centuries, and this trend is a natural carry-forward and fresh update of our decorating heritage.
Click here to read my latest piece for Williams-Sonoma Designer Marketplace, where my design partner and I interview bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert and her husband Jose Nunez; they own a large import gallery in New Jersey, and you'll like Liz and Jose's advice about how to select good Asian accessories for your home and design projects. To accompany the advice in the article, I've selected a few contemporary furniture pieces that will style well with Asian antiques and accessories. Click on each photo for more product information.
The perfect display of Asian accessories: the Collectors Cabinet from Global Views
Jiun Ho's Hans Night Table is a sleek pedestal to display Asian treasures.
Functional coffee table from BoConcepts - sleek lines, Zen profile, go well with Asian accessories
Shiny metal clads the Terra Console from West Elm, a perfect surface to display accents!
Global Views' Cathay Arm Chair has a sandblasted finish that makes this Asian piece contemporary, ideal for an Asian throw.
If you're interested in learning more about interior design and decorating, we encourage you to explore the Sheffield School, New York, NY. Sheffield began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.
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