Furnishing culture: Chinese designer inspired by hometown

Chinese furniture designer Zhu Xiaojie and some of his latest designs, including a butterfly chair, an office chair, a tea set and a birdcage lamp.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The exhibition also presents Zhu's latest collaborations with designers and brands from Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong and Italy.

For instance, fur from the Danish company Kopenhagen Fur is used along with traditional materials like wood and steel. The cockroach-inspired shoe stool combines steel legs with a fur-covered seat to support people putting on and taking off their shoes at the door.

Kopenhagen Fur auctioneer Kasper Scott Reinbacher says he's especially impressed by the contemporary and innovative ways Zhu uses fur in furniture design.

Zhu, who's also Wenzhou Furniture College's dean and visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts, wrote three experience-based textbooks for college students that are also displayed.

Zhu's father was a graphic designer who was wrongly punished during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), so he started taking odd jobs at age 13 to support his family. Along the way, he taught himself the basics of interior design and craftsmanship.

He quit his job as a State-owned wood company's branch office manager in 1987 to set up his own furniture business. He moved to Australia in 1998 before returning to Wenzhou to found Opal Furniture, which became famous for originality at a time when Chinese furniture design was notorious for copying.

Zhu also curated Chinese design exhibitions for Milan Design Week in 2012 and 2013.