Mixing Ming furniture with Siri's Norwegian wood
SHANGHAI: You can meet people from all corners of the earth in Shanghai, but when you meet an interior designer who was born in the United States, raised in Norway, trained in Switzerland, worked in London, and who also had a full-blooded Cherokee Indian for a great grandmother, you know you have met someone against the grain.
Siri Preststulen moved to Shanghai with her family on New Year in 2004. She quickly set about meeting clients to refurbish and decorate their homes and offices with her own interior design company, Sirisita.
Now, a successful interior designer, she has transformed houses and businesses across China, as well as hunted for rare and delicate pieces of traditional Chinese furniture.
"I have always loved interior design," she tells China Daily. "My first project was redesigning my own bedroom when I was 12. I remember it gave me butterflies when I saw my vision come to fruition."
Preststulen says she finds inspiration wherever she looks in China, whether it be down the flea markets of Shanghai's Dongtai Lu, or in Shenzhen, or Hong Kong, or even faraway in the rural countryside, where little design gems can be unearthed.
"In China, anything is possible. This country is a heaven for a designer if you can manage to get your ideas realized, which sometimes demands a lot of patience."
Preststulen says that, although she has a taste for pure beauty, she is enthusiastic about all styles of interior design and sees herself as a translator of her clients' dreams into three-dimensional reality.
"I have been very lucky with contractors and factories while living in China, and that makes my work even more enjoyable. The difference to say, Europe, is that here in China there is easy access to raw materials such as wood, stone and fabrics, and a low cost."
However, she is slightly saddened by the current Chinese design trend to ape all things Western.
"I wish the Chinese were more proud of their amazing heritage. For instance, I adore Ming-style furniture and am constantly amazed by its beautiful simplicity. But in modern China, I find that trends are extremely important nowadays. I do try to convince my clients otherwise and that they should invest in Chinese quality that will last a long time, but constant change is in demand here now."
But what have been her favorite achievements in China?
"It totally depends on what the client expects," she says. "I am mostly influenced by the position of a place. I love homes, but as a commercial project, the office in the PUFA Tower in Pudong is a favorite. I liked enhancing what the company stands for and represents. The interior has to match the image."
And, of course, being a Norwegian designer, she can also dispel the long-debated myth of The Beatles' mysterious song title, Norwegian Wood. "It comes from the Norwegian pine wood, which was widely used in interior houses in those days."
(China Daily 05/25/2007 page19)
