Art of Living

Design: the subtle art of the Japanese, for a new practical mindset

BY CLÉMENCE POUGET

The Japanese’ subtle art inspires products that serve at least two functions.

A strained real-estate market, mortgage rates and rents that keep rising, purchasing power that keeps falling… Faced with today’s economic uncertainty, apartments and houses lose a little more living space every year. But the good news is that this shortage of square meters has become a rallying cry for the leading minds in the world of interior design. “The French are increasingly drawing inspiration from minimalist Asian design,” confirms Julie Pradier. “And in particular from the Japanese’ subtle art of fitting out a small space by making sure, for example, that a product serves at least two functions.” Speakers and turntables that also double as side tables at La Boîte concept; a small coffee table that turns into an ottoman with the simple addition of a cushion at Source Édition; a vase at Cinna with holes designed to slip each flower stem into; or even a pool table that transforms into a stunning dining-room table at Cornilleau…

For this new year, beauty and practicality intertwine more than ever in our interiors, freeing both space and mind from unnecessary clutter. “In our lives filled with digital consumption, I feel we all need a bit more mental clarity, room to breathe—and therefore fewer objects around us.” In other words: making detox rhyme with design.

Source Édition, TU-TU
A coffee table—or, by adding a cushion, an ottoman, 1,695 euros, Source Édition

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