New from the East

Some of the most interesting design stories of the decade are being written in China. Zaozuo built an international design programme — Luca Nichetto among its collaborators — while Ziinlife, out of Shanghai, designs warm, contemporary furniture for a new generation of apartment-dwellers.

It is a shift worth paying attention to: not manufacturing for other people's brands, which China has long done, but authorship — houses with their own design point of view.

Considered design, modern making

For an Australian house, they're a natural fit: considered design, modern manufacturing, and — under RCEP — a clean route to market. The pieces are contemporary without being trend-chasing, and built to a standard that travels.

Good design no longer has a single postcode.

Bringing in Nichetto and designers like him is a signal of intent. It says these houses want to be judged as design brands, on the same terms as their European peers, rather than on price alone.

Designed for how we live now

Ziinlife in particular designs for the apartment — the smaller, denser way a growing share of the world now lives. That focus produces furniture scaled and detailed for real contemporary rooms rather than idealised large ones.

It is a useful corrective. Much celebrated design assumes space it does not name; these houses design for the space people actually have, which makes them quietly relevant far beyond their home market.

An early, considered home

We're proud to give these houses an early, considered home here — not as a novelty, but as part of the same collection as the European names, judged by the same standard.

Good design no longer has a single postcode. Watching where it comes from next is part of the pleasure, and these two are worth watching closely.