Top Tips! ACHIEVE GLOBAL STYLE

As you ransack far-flung flea markets and souks this summer, consider bringing back a few treasures to reinvent your home decor. Imogen Clyde reports

A mood board is a tried-and-tested way to collect inspiration, explore ideas and set the tone for your design project

The homes I’ve visited in Lantau (and across Hong Kong) have one thing in common. Regardless of their size, shape or design savvy, they all exhibit a strong global awareness. Or to put it another way, we Hongkongers love to travel, and shop while travelling, and this is reflected in our homes.

Travellers have always had a taste for the exotic and there is nothing new about decorating with objects from other cultures. As far back as the 2nd century BC, the Silk Road ferried luxury items, such as silk, porcelain and jade, from China to Rome. During the Renaissance, the world opened up to exploration and connoisseurs everywhere began to collect exotica, and use it on an everyday basis.

When you substitute ordinary objects with a multicultural blend of furnishings chosen for their unique shape, pattern or craftsmanship, you are well on the way to designing a chic, travel-led interior. Creating an exotic atmosphere starts by adding a few unexpected surprises to a room: replacing that boring glass coffee table with an ornately carved drum picked up in Chiang Rai or exchanging a pretty museum-bought poster for a dazzling beaded Nigerian George fabric. Travel-led style is about making ‘everyday items’ stand out by selecting unusual, globally sourced treasures in lieu of machine-made, massproduced goods.

As French architect Le Corbusier said back in the 1920s: “The home should be the treasure chest of living.”

The idea is to combine the familiar and the foreign without falling into farce. The Victorians loved a themed room, in particular Turkish rooms, in which low divans were piled high with cushions and lavishly draped with Persian rugs, but today this kind of themed approach is definitely out – too studied at best, too kitsch at worst. What you are aiming for instead, is an imaginatively furnished interior that incorporates a host of different cultural objects and influences. The trendiest travel-led schemes combine furnishings, fabrics and accessories from all over the globe.

In choosing key pieces, you are not confined to any one country, and neither are you tied to one period of time – modern pieces can combine well with curios and antiques. It’s about mixing things up to achieve a global perspective.

One word of warning: making a success of a travelled scheme relies heavily on your own sense of style and decorating ability. You are creating a design scheme that reflects your appreciation for the beauty of other cultures, so a strong sense of