The Spiritual Context of Rustic Furniture Design in Rural China and Western Culture KEYWORDS : rustic chair; spiritual context; rural China; western culture By comparing the spiritual context of rustic furniture design in rural China and western culture, we can see the development of design concepts, as well as cultural and social changes have all given rise to a rustic revolution in chair design. The Chinese have had the natural characteristic of being in harmony with nature since early times. Over the long history, nature is always the place where many philosophers, artists, officials, hermits and monks tried to find something. In china, rustic furniture is mainly the root furniture, though it also implied bamboo or cane furniture in early time or under some special definition. There are several opinions on Chinese
Name / Surname
rustic furniture in relation to garden furniture, religious art and literate art. In western culture, the belief that there
Xing Xie
was truth to be discovered in simplicity and country life was mirrored in the supreme artifice of weaving chairs and tables from simulated boughs to form the furniture for a “simple� summerhouse. There are three main questions to the research:
Research field/area
Furniture Design & New Media Exhibition
1. Rustic furniture design in category of ancient China and western country. 2. Exploration of Chinese traditional design thinking method and the spiritual context of western culture. 3. Evolutionary Logic and Design Cultural Consciousness of Modern rustic furniture design.
Supervisor
Prof. Fang Hai Prof. Hannu Kahonen
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Bibliography Osvald Siren, Chinese Painting: Leading masters and principles, Lund Humphries, London, The Ronald Press Company, New York, 1956. Seth Stem, Designing Furniture from Concept to Shop drawing: a Practical Guide, Edited by Laura Tringali, The Taunton Press, USA, 1989. P. 149. Giles Sutherland, Explorations in Wood: The Furniture & Sculpture of Tim Stead, Canongate, Edinburgh, 1993.