Furniture that Lasts Forever
Lily’s Antiques, one of the largest furniture dealers in Beijing, is well-renowned for both its restoration of real antiques as well as its stunning reproductions. The store has remained in its original Gaobeidian location for over ten years, though they recently tore down and refurbished the space. Owner Lily called in a new man to tighten up management and help with the transition. Agenda paid Frederic Derbaudrenghien a visit to discuss his vision for the company, and how he hopes to breathe new life into Beijing’s local furniture district.
What inspired you to move from Belgium to Beijing?
It’s a bit of a love story, actually. I’ve always wanted to leave Belgium. By coincidence, I was backpacking throughout China eight years ago when I met a girl here. She had plans to study in France very close to where I lived. So I waited for her to finish her studies, and then we moved back to China together.
Describe the process of restoring or reproducing antiques.
Lily’s is actually more famous for real furniture. Wholesalers can get decent reproductions from the south of China. But if they want good antiques that have been restored without the antique value being destroyed, they come to us. We leave our pieces in their original form. All antiques need restoration, but of course, some require more than others. For instance, if you have a table with only three legs and you need to custom-make a fourth leg, the value is much lower.
Where do you find most of your authentic antique furniture?
Lily has been in the business for such a long time, she has built her own network of sources. They know what she wants. She has the experience to see which ones are good and which ones aren’t. Then she brings the pieces she wants to our big factory here in Beijing. A quarter of the space in this warehouse is devoted to storing unrestored antiques. So if there are foreigners or wholesalers who are choosy about the way they want a piece restored, they can look there. But for most pieces, we use our own discretion.
What do you look for in antiques?
Where I come from in Europe, we love culture, we love history. Antiques need to look used. I don’t like a 1,000-year-old cabinet that looks just like new. I appreciate wear and tear. I want to be able to see that something has been used by five generations of people from five different families.
What are some of the changes you’re bringing to Lily’s Antiques?
First, I’m putting more emphasis on presentation. When we create a nice display, we show customers how they can make their interior nice. Lots of stores here look like warehouses, with three different types of furniture stacked on top of each other. We don’t. We have a showroom. Lily has wonderful taste in item selection; I am simply helping her present it in a better light.
I’ve also created different departments – like Lily’s Living, Lily’s Antiques and Lily’s Museum Collection – to make a clear distinction between real antiques and reproductions. I want to make sure we develop with the local market, so we’ve recently begun offering styles other than traditional Chinese furniture. Just five years ago, that wouldn’t have worked in Beijing. But now Chinese people are getting a taste of different cultures, and are more open to it.
We’re also the first place in Gaobeidian to start using FSC wood, which is 100 percent green and comes only from controlled forests. No other stores do that yet; they aren’t ready for it. I’m sure that by next year some people will follow us.
And when that time comes, we’ll help them. When other business owners in the area seek our help, we’re there. We hope to help the area develop as a whole. We are doing more than just concentrating on ourselves.
How has Gaobeidian changed over the last few years?
Ten years ago, Gaobeidian was a village disconnected from Beijing. But Beijing is growing, and absorbing more areas in the process.
Gaobeidian is a furniture street. Before, maybe half of all the Chinese antiques you could buy abroad came from this area. Hundreds of containers were exported from Gaobeidian. At the same time, only wholesalers from abroad came here to buy full containers. But then, because the city was growing, they decided we couldn’t have factories here anymore – we had to move them outside the Fifth Ring Road. So that’s what Lily had to do. And we transformed our Gaobeidian space into a retail shop.
Now we’re trying to market Gaobeidian, develop it as a shopping area. We held a street fair a while ago, where we blocked off the whole street and threw in some music and dance. All the shop owners participated. A couple months ago they also opened a parking lot, so they could clear the street of cars and make it more accessible for people comingfrom further away. As a foreigner, I don’t understand too much about Chinese politics, but we’re trying our best. The government and furniture association are working together to move forward.
What are your thoughts on other furniture retailers, like Ikea?
I have nothing against Ikea – some of the furniture in our office even comes from Ikea. What I don’t like is that when some customers think about where they ought to buy furniture, they automatically think of Ikea.
There is an alternative, and it’s called Gaobeidian. People assume it’s only antiques here, but in fact, there are stores with modern furniture. Instead of being just an antique village, Gaobeidian is becoming more of a furniture and interior design village.
When I go to Ikea, I see there are Chinese families who like to go there just to sit on the tables and chairs and beds. That’s great, I love that. I love to see people going to Ikea for entertainment purposes. But it hurts me that there, it’s overcrowded, and in Gaobeidian, there’s still a lot of space. More people need to know that we can provide that here as well.
Lily’s Antiques 1) Daily 8.30am-6pm. Gaobeidian Showroom, 6 Gaobeidian Furniture Street, Chaoyang District (8579 2458) www.lilys-antiques.com 华伦古典家具,朝阳区高碑店家俱一条街69号 2) Factory and warehouse visits by appointment. Baimiao industry area, Songzhuang Town, Tongzhou District (138 0139 6309) 通州区工厂地址,通州区宋庄镇白庙村工业大院
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