Shanghai based Pu Su furniture is run by Chen Yanfei, 35 and wants to reimagine traditional furniture for the contemporary age.
From China Daily
“The name Pu Su is borrowed from Zhuangzi (Chinese Taoist philosopher).
It means ’plain,nothing could compete with its beauty’. It accurately expresses my furniture’s style,” Chen says.
The designer says he wants visitors who come into his shop to feel the connections between
each piece of furniture. Even the decorative items are cleverly displayed. Borrowing from
traditional Chinese culture icons such as tea sets, fans and ink paintings, the decorative items
help to enhance the beauty of the furniture.
Chen’s journey with the furniture and decorative items started some 10 years ago but he only
managed to launch his own brand in June 2011, after a chance find of three furniture-making
masters in Nantong city, Jiangsu province, in 2010.
“They have inherited the best skills from the older generations and they know what I want
the moment they see my design drafts,” says Chen, a graphic art design graduate from
Guangzhou Art Institute.
Before opening Pu Su Furniture, he conducted market research and found that the idea of
reviving traditional Chinese furniture is not new and had been done by other designers some
years ago.
If he wants his designs to stand out, he needed to be different.
“Reviving our ancestors’ perfect design needs courage. I don’t want to copy the traditional
furniture or just make small changes, such as alter the color and size,” he says. “I want to
make revolutionary Chinese furniture, which is traditional and at the same time, contains
modern elements and individual wisdom.”
