| If you're looking for a sleek, exotic look perfectly | | | | room denizens alike. If you love your sleek, |
| suited for smaller apartments and living spaces, | | | | streamlined platform bed and couldn't live without |
| Oriental-styled furniture is a definite option to | | | | your stowaway futon, you owe your admiration |
| consider. Chinese and Japanese offerings have had | | | | to the ingenuity of a culture that traditionally |
| a great influence on Western furniture and | | | | shuns large, overwrought furniture. Other |
| modern design. Bedroom furniture pieces such as | | | | recognizable items that hail from Japan include the |
| the platform bed and futon, as well as stacked | | | | stacked Tansu chests and Nagamochi trunks. Like |
| chests and trunks are examples of Asian-inspired | | | | Chinese furnishings, furniture influenced by |
| furniture that is practical and compact, and at the | | | | Japanese design is defined by its joinery, with |
| same time stylish and sophisticated. | | | | master artisans taking years to learn the |
| Lacquered surfaces are a key attribute of the | | | | construction of these complex, durable joints. |
| Chinese furniture style, creating luxuriantly deep | | | | Great pride is taken in the general lack of nails or |
| finishes that are paradoxically subtle and striking in | | | | glue that holds the structure together, and in the |
| their elegance. Comprised of ebony, teak and | | | | joint's shock absorbing properties. |
| rosewood, Chinese furniture often bears an inlay | | | | Much contemporary furniture owes its inspiration |
| of semi-precious materials like lapis lazuli, jade and | | | | to ancient Oriental designs. The beauty of a piece |
| mother-of-pearl. Symmetrical construction, miter | | | | was found in its usefulness and construction. |
| joints and copper, brass or pewter brackets are | | | | Simplicity of design was valued more than |
| often employed to create a clean profile that | | | | ostentatious and gaudy overindulgence. The same |
| enhances a modern, cosmopolitan living space. | | | | can be said for today's modern furniture, |
| Space-saving savvy puts Japanese-inspired | | | | especially bedroom furniture, where sleek and |
| furniture high on the list of city dwellers and dorm | | | | simple equals stylish and sophisticated. |