Furniture Shopping in Foshan! |
10.03.2011 |
The last time I was in Guangzhou was in October when I went shopping for bathroom accessories and household fittings. That was a nightmare, not because of the language barrier (I speak “poor” Mandarin but could get by perfectly fine, especially with Anny who was there to help me translate) or anything else but poorly because of the abundant choices that were available and trying to balance design, practicality and costs was a big headache. If you’re into design and have ever done any renovations before, you’d know that beautiful things aren’t necessarily the most practical. Let’s not even bring price into the picture! So, it’s been quite a fun and challenging journey for me trying to balance all 3 aspects of interior design! I get to use both my left and right brains in the process and am really enjoying seeing things down to the nitty gritty details to ensure its aesthetically pleasing, practical and cost effective.
My trip to Guangzhou this time was nowhere close to a headache. In fact, I had a blast being spoilt rotten for choices!
Upon arrival, we visited Zhu Jiang Xin Cheng Furniture Mall in Guangzhou, just for a look see and price checks. I was initially quite apprehensive because all the things I like are modern furniture and I was afraid I’d only find the cheesy China-made stuff. Oh boy I was sooooooo wrong! So the first day was a good one – I had found a few sofas, chairs, shelving and other items I liked, a lot. All things were KIV until after Shunde, Foshan which was the main purpose of the trip.
The next day, we drove to Shunde, an hour’s drive from Guangzhou city.
I was very impressed and amazed as I stood in the middle of the Louvre Furniture mall in Shunde. I stood in awe as I stood amidst the 183,000 square meter (that’s 2 MILLION square feet, mind you!). 8 storeys of shops, all furniture! Holy Crap! Just name what style you like and they WILL have it! Neoclassical furniture, modern, post modern, antique, wood, classic Italian… The list goes on! Forget about backward China. Forget about cheesy china-made items. That was like 20 years ago. The modern stuff you find in this mall alone is more than all the modern furniture places you find in KL! And the best part is, they are sold at a fraction of the cost! (well, ok to be honest the prices aren’t as cheap as I had expected, well at least not for the items I chose anyway. The better quality stuff, you get at probably 1/2 the price as compared to KL. If you choose to have leather, it gets quite expensive! There was an imported chair I liked that cost RM4000! We managed to bargain it down to RM3000 after half an hour of negotiations and purchasing other items at the store) What’s also cool about shopping in China – you can pretty much custom make everything! From material to color to measurement which is probably why I enjoyed it so much! I even made FIFOTO carpets!
The entire main street of Shunde is lined with gigantic furniture malls. The street is at least 1 km long! GO FIGURE!
The mall next to Louvre, which we only had 30mins for, was lower end and I found the same exact items for even less! So.. If you have the patience and energy to hunt down the best prices, Shunde is the place for you!
This trip to China was certainly an eye-opener. Sure, I know all things nowadays are made in China and of course, I know Shanghai is a cosmo city and I constantly hear my dad sing praises of how the Chinese can do the impossible, etc but you don’t really know or more so, your mindset doesn’t really change from hearsay. This time, I witnessed it for myself and I must admit, am impressed!
All I have to say is… I’m PROUD to be Chinese!
Here are some cool finds!
I bought these… One side of the bed – A bunny!
The other side of the bed – The Pistol…. and on the floor, a rabbit carpet! MUAHAHAHAHAHA
I absolutely love these red “Jimmy Choo” chandeliers but thought it would outlive its novelty within a few months…
… and this is comfy chair!
