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New China Chic A new design aesthetic—distinctly Chinese yet lively and new—has been born out of China's rich history. The impact of the new Chinese style, whether at home or in the international arena, owes much to the variety of interpretations that the genre provides.

From the decorative opulence of Imperial China (cinnabar red, Imperial yellow, royal purple) to the pared down classicism of the Ming dynasty (furniture and porcelain) to the rich drama of Chinoiserie (born out of the 17th and 18th century Silk Route when fabrics, lacquerware, ceramics, and fragrances found their way to the West), China provides a vast source of inspiration.

Chinese and China-based designers are looking with a new appreciation at their heritage and are busy weaving the country's artistic and cultural traditions into their work to produce a new language of design Particularly in cosmopolitan urban areas, centuries-old ideas are being reworked and reworked and reintepreted to look fresh, interesting, and totally of the moment. The new Chinese aesthetic has come at age with glamor style, and panache.

Pretty in Pink

Sizzling colors spice up

a hip eatery

As night falls over Beijing, queues of taxis discharge their passengers along the tree-lined avenues and side streets of the Sanlitun embassy district. This is the city's liveliest and most compact nightlife zone, with countless bars, restaurants and cafes, ranging from the cool to the artsy to the really rather tacky. It is here that fashion-conscious Beijingers, expatriates, and overseas visitors congregate to drink, dine, dance, and people-watch into the early hours of the morning.

Recently arrived on the scene is the Pink Loft, an opulent restaurant with an extravagant palette of pink, gold, and dashes of turquoise. The cavernous space takes up three levels of an old factory building on Sanlitun South Street. A central atrium rises three floors and is inset with glass floors supported by turquoise metal frames. Thus diners who have a head for heights can eat looking down on a huge glittering chandelier suspended above a lily pond far below.

Designed and part-owned by Beijing-based artist, Lin Tianmiao, the Pink Loft is such a significant departure from her usual style-serene white-string wrapped objects and black-and-white photography-that it is hard to believe it has been designed by the same person. Yet Lin's foray into restaurant design has proved exuberant and entertaining: its use of lush silks, shiny gold drapes, and hand-beaded curtains produces a kitsch atmosphere that successfully mixes chinoiserie-style with bordello chic.

Detail of the fluorescent industrial piping offset by a baroque gilt banister.

A shocking palette of pink and gold is on the menu at The Pink Loft. At the entrance, an oversized crystal chandelier hangs low over a lily pond.

Throughout the huge, three-storey interior, the interplay of lush silks, intricate beadwork, and brightly hued paintwork have helped turn a former industrial building into a vivid eatery.

Glass floors allow diners to look down through a central atrium to the pond below. Vibrant pink silk cushions add modern glamor to the space.

Artist Lin Tianmiao, designer of the space, retained the building's original heating pipes, painting them bright pink and adding blue down lighting.

Lush colorways are carried through to the details: sparkling glassware; hand-beaded glass curtains tied with thick gold braid; and cushions printed with Chinese characters.

Magnificent Ming

Imperial grandeur restored

A Ming dynasty courtyard house in the center of Beijing is home to American-Chinese lawyer and art dealer Handel Lee. Built around 1610 for the nephew of a powerful and wicked eunuch called Wei Zhong Xian, the house came into Lee's possession in 1995.

Living in historical properties such as this is becoming increasingly popular, even as entire neighborhoods of courtyard houses are being demolished. However, the realities of making them habitable are not for the faint-hearted. Usually in advanced stages of disrepair, these old buildings lack even basic heating, plumbing, and electrical systems.

It was no different for Lee, who took a year and a half to renovate the tumbledown structure. He managed to retain the original front and the middle portions of the house but had to rebuild the back section as it had suffered extensive water damage. To turn what was a series of dark and drafty houses into an airy, open living space, he tore down internal walls to let in more light and installed a vaulted glass ceiling over a small courtyard between the living room building (to the fore) and the bedroom building (behind). This created a naturally-lit lounge area that links the two spaces.

The next challenge was to furnish the interior. Lee says, "I didn't want to use Chinese furniture as I find that too predictable. But the house needed its interior design to have a relationship with the past." So he used a combination of modern furniture, antique collectibles and an extensive collection of contemporary Chinese art to fill the atmospheric space. "It goes well with the house," Lee explains. "It's the contrast that makes it interesting."

Accessories include antique collectibles, such as ceramic figurines and a Khymer head.

Handel Lee's courtyard house, which dates back to the Ming dynasty, comprises three buildings, separated by courtyards and walkways. An informal lounge area lies between the main living room (left) and bedroom (right). This space was originally a small rear courtyard that Lee glassed in to create more living space. Latticed timber windows, which would originally have faced onto a courtyard, provide privacy without sacrificing light.

The main living room features the original beams. Modern furniture and art contrast with the traditional architecture and include a hand-carved red lacquer dining table and chairs and a painting by Wang Jianwei. Hanging from the ceiling is a mobile by American artist Paul Hopkins (see right).

A pair of traditional red lacquer doors marks the entrance to the house. Above the pair of chairs by Shao Fan is a painting on paper by Lu Qing.

Kaleidoscope Color

Exuberant glass art fills

every inch of space

The eye-popping glass interior of TMSK restaurant in Xintiandi aims to evoke a strong sense of contemporary Chinese culture by drawing on the country's rich history. Its creators are Taiwanese glass artists Chang Yi and his wife Loretta Yang Hui-shan, former film director and movie star respectively.

TMSK is an acronym of Tou Ming Si Kao, which roughly translates as Crystal Mind. "We were bored by minimalism," explains Chang Yi. "It is too safe. We thought, as Chinese, what is the most gorgeous moment in our history? We believe it was the Tang dynasty and so we collected lots of colorful references and decided to interpret it our way."

The interplay between light and shade anchors the restaurant's design, which mixes lush colored glass with gold leaf backdrops. "We thought what a dramatic effect it would have if we put the gold leaf in the background and allowed light to flicker off it," says Chang Yi.

The project took 26 months' design work and involved an extraordinary commitment to detail. The result is that everything in the restaurant, from the interior design to the furniture and tableware, was made by Liuligongfang glass craftsmen in their own studio. There is a huge ground floor bar made of purple, blue, orange, and green glass tiles; bar stools enclosed in oval red silk lanterns; a spectacular curved gold glass ceiling inspired by the Dunhuang grottos in Gansu province; and a shimmering orchid lake underlit with neon blue light. Hand-carved pillars, intricate tiles, and lush private rooms merge gothic, baroque, and opulent into one heady mix that brings China's cultural richness to a wider audience.

The double happiness symbol is carved onto fiber optic light shades.

High stools with carved latticework backs are positioned in a row opposite the main bar.

Vibrant colors inside; traditional 19th century shikumen rowhouse style in the dining area outside.

Downstairs, the tranquil Orchid Lake is a modern interpretation of the traditional Chinese tea-house. Atmospheric blue underlighting bouncing off the water emphasizes the Tang dynasty-inspired gold leaf walls. In front stands a pair of armchairs covered in lush, floral-print silk.

Detail of colorful hand-carved tiles inset into the bar. According to ancient beliefs, the circle is a symbol of heaven; the square a symbol of earth.

The red silk bar stools are in the shape of an inverted 1930s Shanghai lantern.

The dramatic ten-meter-long (33-ft) bar on the ground floor is entirely made of glass tiles in exuberant washes of color. Gold-leaf covers the ceiling and the rear wall; gold crystal glass lights hang above.

View along the length of the Orchid Lake where each orchid is made of hand-carved glass. At the end, a mirrored wall works to reflect the dramatic space with its blue and violet lighting. Lighting is key throughout the restaurant: with the focus on the interplay of light and shade to create washes of color and shadowy corners. To the left, cosy seating areas are divided by wooden pillars and beams.

Glass artists Chang Yi and his wife Loretta Yang Huishan used hand-carved glass to create TMSK, including walls, screens, floors, windows, tables, chairs, and table-ware. Upstairs, a wall of ornate carved glass pillars topped with jade green spheres marks the entrance to a private dining room.

The central feature of the first floor dining room is a domed glass ceiling inspired by the 1,600-year-old Dun huang grottos in Gansu province, the world's greatest repository of Buddhist art. The ceiling subtly changes color, moving from gold to red to green to pink.

Temple of Heaven

An exchange of cultures

A restored courtyard house located in the grounds of a temple north of Beijing's Forbidden City is now the distinctive home of French architect Pascale Desvaux and her family. In keeping with traditional Chinese architectural emphasis on enclosure and separation, the house is encircled by a wall that protects the interior from the world outside. "The idea was to take elements of Chinese architecture and history and to incorporate them with contemporary style," explains the architect, who completely renovated the 350-square-meter (3,766-sq-ft) space before moving in.

An impressive terracotta red archway featuring a moongate leads into a courtyard garden. Desvaux uses the moongate as her primary linkage motif within the interior, where modern moongates, painted midnight blue, are installed in the middle of each interior wall to produce a long slim space that flows around the courtyard on three sides. This linking device adds to the balance and symmetry of the interior and is a practical as well as an aesthetic decision. 'The rooms are not very big so this saves a lot of space," she explains.

Hers is a clever fusion of styles that values the power of simplicity. The palette is bold: the intense blue of the moongates contrasts with the traditional green, yellow, and red color scheme of Chinese temples, retained in the painted pillars, beams, and intricately patterned exterior woodwork. Inside, it is a stylish and comfortable home filled with Cassina sofas, antique Chinese furniture, own-design pieces, and curios from Beijing's Panjiayuan flea market. It is a little slice of heaven in the heart of the city.

Sculptural glass vases by French design duo Tse & Tse are juxtaposed against old wooden window frames. Outside hangs a traditional silk lantern.

Chinese doorways appear in a variety of shapes. As dusk falls, this dramatic red moongate frames the secluded courtyard. The color red signifies joy and good fortune.

A series of modern, midnight blue moongates link the rooms inside the courtyard house. This is the view from the bedroom of the long, slim living room, which is furnished with a combination of antique furniture found in Beijing and Desvaux's own designs.

By applying a contemporary design ethos to a traditional structure, Pascsale Desvaux aims to create an exchange between cultures. In the master bedroom, the red silk painting is by Zhao Ling and the Vietnamese bedlinen is by Catherine Denoual. The Constanza floor lamp is by Luceplan.

Flea market finds include shagreen spectacles cases, circular yellow roof tiles with dragon motifs and calligraphy print cushions. Below, painted pillars and woodwork retain the traditional red and green palette. The overhanging roof with upturned eaves protects the house from the elements whilst letting sunlight through.

The moongate is a traditional Chinese symbol of happiness. When closed, it provides privacy inside the courtyard.

X Appeal

Fashion-forward designs, proudly made in China

Australian designer Anthony Xavier Edwards has been living in Shanghai for eight years. He moved to the city after spending time in Japan and other Asian countries, and, inspired by the city's textile culture, he began producing statement-making silk scarves. Today, he displays his own form of Shanghai glamor in his Xintiandi boutique, called X, where alongside fabulously flamboyant fashions (silks, organzas, hand dyed ostrich feathers), he offers hats, soft furnishings, ceramics, and acid-etched glassware, all bearing the label "Proudly Made in China."

Such chic, domestic designs are proof that China-made goods can now hold their own with panache. "There is a huge growing middle class in China that demands refinement," Edwards explains. He finds his adopted country a limitless source of inspiration: "There's something in the environment that gives you a buzz. I'm inspired by so many things China has given me." He sums up his look as stylish classics with a flamboyant edge-"I want to do bits of madness that make a woman smile"-and it is an approach that translates into his home environment.

Edwards lives in a modern apartment block in the French Concession, a short taxi ride from Xintiandi and has furnished it with his own-design pieces that are a Chinese-Western fusion. "It's my own version of chinoiserie," he says. His is a theatrical, exuberant environment: lots of black and gold, ostrich feather-trimmed Chinese silk cushions, slim CD cabinets modeled on pagodas, a black lacquer bamboo motif screen, and art deco style armchairs. "And all of it has been made in China over the last eight years."

Side lamp using a traditional painted Mandarin (official) figure as a base.