SOTHEBY'S
Laura Cheung Wolf on Reimagining a Centuries-Old Art for the Modern Home
December 7, 2020
What inspires Laura Cheung Wolf? Sotheby’s Hong Kong chats with the founder and designer of LALA CURIO, one of Asia’s most exciting interior design and lifestyle brands, as she reveals how to strike that perfect balance between antique and contemporary home decor. In advance of Sotheby's Arts d'Asie (11 December, Paris) auction, we asked her to mix and match some of the works from the sale with her own designs.
Wolf is part of three generations of expertise in decorative arts; her maternal grandmother specialized in cloisonné and paternal grandfather in rosewood furniture. Steeped in tradition throughout her life, Wolf felt the continuous draw of Asian art and, with her training as an interior designer, set to reimagine these traditional arts.
“We came about LALA CURIO with a mission in preserving lost crafts,” said Wolf. Indeed, the overall aesthetic is a fresh interpretation of 18th-century Chinoiserie, with its elements updated with a modern flair — in equal parts luxurious, refined and eccentric. LALA CURIO offers hand-painted wallpaper inspired by East Asian art, furniture embellished with cloisonné or lacquer, and home decor accented with enameling and colored stones.
“I am drawn to Chinese antiquity, but also my passion is to revive these lost crafts and turn them into something relevant for contemporary use.”
Baby room designed by LALA CURIO featuring their bespoke hand-painted wallpaper collection 'Safari Jungle'.
What is your design approach in making a style that had been popular centuries ago newly relevant for the modern home or interiors?
Back in the day, crafts produced in China were exported to the West. Within 17th- and 18th-century chinoiserie there was a fantasy of the Orient, an imagining of what the Oriental world was like. I love that fantastical aspect of creation.
We’re translating 17th-century chinoiserie primarily in our hand-painted wallpaper, one of our key products. Using this craft, through colors and subject matter, we narrate stories that are more relevant to our clients today. For example, to a chinoiserie scenery of birds and trees we added something bespoke for our clients, even adding their favorite modern-day objects — such as favorite handbags, shoes or whatnot; there is a whimsicality to how these are placed.
The designs do not only look to the past, they often focus on issues of the future or wink at today’s technology.
In a more recent collection, we are very much concerned about sustainability; the design is a series of underwater jewels depicting seaweed and sea life through intricate embellishments of pearls and beading, understanding that sea trees and kelp trees are important for saving our oceans, as they absorb carbon. We use the canvas of our hand-painted wallpaper to express many messages – whether it is a new take on history using contemporary colors to make it more fun, or portraying a modern subject and making it antique through old techniques. We have a whole series on the world of the imperial court where empresses are holding cell phones and taking selfies, putting on headphones and running, or having some macarons. There is also a bit of humor in the work.
Chinoiserie Fauna & Flora hand-painted wallpaper
How would you advise those who are for the first time trying to incorporate an Asian-inspired style into their interior design?
For me personally, I love the idea of layering. It is like painting on canvas except I am painting in a three-dimensional world. Curate the whole space by layering on accessories with hand-painted wallpaper as a backdrop and bringing it to life with furnishings and accessories. I am not a big fan of being “matchy-matchy.”
Has chinoiserie become fashionable again?
Wallpaper is definitely back. For a long time wallpaper was thought of as something from a grandmother’s home and then for the past few years, you see it is fashionable to have it again. The 17th- and 18th-century chinoiserie hand-painted wallpaper is something that the wealthiest of the wealthiest within our parents' and grandparents' generation enjoyed. These days I have a lot of younger clients, ordering hand-painted wallpaper; people are more and more appreciating luxury at home as well as handmade bespoke items. There is nothing more special than having a piece with a special provenance and history for the home.
Source: Sotheby’s; https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/laura-cheung-on-reimagining-a-centuries-old-art-for-the-modern-home
Founder and interior designer, Laura Cheung Wolf’s house is an art itself. This place is a combination of love, family, and her view of art. Laura decorates every corner precisely by using refined decorations, chinoiserie furniture, and hand-painted wallpaper.