Design Duo
Ahead of this month’s Asian Home Furnishings Sale, iNTOUCH meets the interior design twosome offering home makeovers and décor tips.
Cherie Jones and Fumi Oizumi are like interior design kindred spirits. Having met at last year’s Asian Home Furnishings Sale at the Club, they established an instant rapport, realizing they shared a common sense of style. Over the last few months, they have joined forces to help newly arrived expats create a “sanctuary” in their homes.
Having relocated to Tokyo just over a year ago, Jones says she understands how overwhelming a move can be, particularly having shifted home a number of times herself. Her first tip for the recently transplanted is to focus on “making your space feel like home, because that way you feel more connected to it.”
“My very first design project was when I was just 8 years old,” Jones says. “My family moved from South Africa to England to a large countryside house, and I convinced my mother to convert the horse stable into a playroom. Many years later, I moved back to South Africa into a less-than-charming apartment. To make it more inviting, I took some of my mother’s curtains and cut them up to make handsewn cushions.”
Jones says her design expertise has grown “organically” through her work (rather than through formal training), such as the several large-scale styling and event coordination projects she handled while working in public relations and TV production. When she and her husband moved to Chicago just over a decade ago, she set up a business designing and importing sophisticated African products.
After arriving in Tokyo, Jones wasted no time in forging new business relationships, joining various Women’s Group committees and helping to organize the annual Asian Home Furnishings Sale, which she describes as a unique shopping experience. “Our vendors offer products from across Asia—Vietnam, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, China—so there’s a wonderful mix of contemporary and antique furniture, rugs, accessories and artwork,” she says.
At this year’s event (the proceeds from which will go to support local charities), Oizumi will once again showcase a range of exquisite furniture from her Azabudai store, Interior Collection. After nearly three decades of traveling around Asia, seeking out prized pieces, Oizumi has built up a treasure trove of antiques and beautifully crafted antique replicas from around Asia. She has also established an impressive list of clients that includes local embassies and ambassadors and VIPs around the world.
“In terms of my interior design work, my concept has always been East meets West, with my focus being on Chinese antiques,” she says. “Many years ago, when I first saw Chinese furniture, I got goose bumps. It’s just so beautiful, far more ornate than Japanese design, which tends to be simple and minimalist.”
Together, Jones and Oizumi not only help people infuse their décor with Asian touches, they also guide those who “feel a bit lost” in their new homes. They offer everything from full-scale interior design work, involving construction and renovation, to smaller, home-restyling projects.
“Sometimes, people arrive here and they just feel really flat,” says Jones. “They might have brought some of their furniture with them from home, but they might be trying to make it work with rental pieces that don’t quite fit together. Even if it’s a temporary accommodation, it’s still worth making a place feel like home, because it helps you to feel happier in other areas of your life, too.”
Asian Home Furnishings Sale
Apr 7 (Member presale)
6:30–9pm (cocktail party: 6:30–7:30pm)
Apr 8 (public sale)
10am– 4pm
New York Ballroom and Brooklyn rooms
Free
Ages 12 and above
Words: Annemarie Luck
Photo: Kayo Yamawaki
