Designer’s call

interiors

This week, You! talks to Karachi-based furniture designer, Beena Asim, regarding her recent collection and latest trends in furniture...

When walking into a well-designed room, it just feels right; you can sense the cohesiveness of everything coming together perfectly. This can be accomplished with the right selection of furniture. And we all agree that designer furniture gives your home a touch of luxury and timeless beauty. However, finding designer furniture which meets both your taste for style and specific needs is not an easy task. To solve this problem, we have a range of contemporary furniture designers who are designing brilliant pieces of furniture. One such designer is Beena Asim who has been into designing furniture since many years but she officially launched her label some 10 years back.

According to Beena she has been naturally inclined towards designing furniture since her childhood. “As a child I was always fascinated with building my own doll house rather than being gifted one. I think this is where it happened when I had my first doll house made with the help of my family that’s where the interest grew,” tells Beena.

Now, a full time furniture designer, Beena has outlets in Karachi and Islamabad and has done several exhibitions in Karachi, Faisalabad, Islamabad and Dubai. What made her furniture line distinguished from others is the use of precious and semi precious gem stones and hand painting on solid wood.

While explaining her recent collection the design artist says, “My recent collection is the accumulation of 10 years of Beena Asim as we celebrate out first decade in the business, we have simply re- crated some of our best pieces over the years as a tribute to our journey which is not just limited to me as the design director but also the workmanship of our team Beena Asim, namely our artisans and craftsmen, polish experts, hand paint artisan and each one of them who help us grew.”

“I am known for my love for classic furniture / interior with rock solid wood adding precious gems and hand paint. What I love making is Neo Classic. However, in my latest collection I have infused some French classic designs since I have always wanted to peruse a fusion of French classic designs with robust Italian colour palette. This resulted in marriage of architectural finesse with unlimited possibilities of luminosity,” she elaborates.

Her favourite piece of furniture in her recent collection is a chest of drawer, inspired by French heritage. “It is named ‘classe’. I have given it a neo classic look with its fashion colour to make it a piece in your home which surely catches everyone’s attention,” elucidates Beena.

When it comes to current trends in international market with regard to home furnishing and accessories, Beena notices that internationally a lot of emphasis is being given on furnishing and accessories to be more practical keeping in mind the changing lifestyle. “Neo classic seems to be trending now a days. Violet and green. A lot of gold colour is trending as far as furniture is concerned,” observes Beena.

“On the other hand, do not blindly follow the trend. When it comes to something you are living with for most of your day, make it a priority to be it suiting your lifestyle and comfort at the same time it should please your eyes. Look with your eyes rather than live with something you just buy because it is trending,” advises Beena.

She believes that people should not compromise when they are spending on furniture for their home. “Generally it is assumed that designer furniture is expensive. People need to understand that exclusivity has a price. A designer piece is created with much more effort than any mass production piece is. A lot of effort is used to maintain its finesse thus the cost is also higher as compared to anything produced in quantity,” stresses Beena.

“Then again, catering to a diverse market place requires affordable collections backed by warranty of our brand image. Therefore, we have recently introduced BARS HOME to cater to the needs of those who want quality furniture in reasonable prices. I was honoured to be invited by the Turkish Trade bureau to attend Euro Asia Largent furniture exhibition called CNR Expo Istanbul IMOB Istanbul Furniture Fair. It actually inspired us to launch our new affordable brand by the name of BARS HOME,” adds Beena.

Beena also shares some interesting and useful interior tips with our readers, “Whenever furnishing your room, keep in mind that it does not look cluttered or busy. Secondly if the room is small, try to add larger mirrors and keep the furniture size smaller, for example, if the bedroom is small, keep a low platform bed and instead of a dresser, just keep a full length mirror. Thirdly, do not just go for pieces which are the in-thing, rather buy stuff that is elegant and timeless because you’ll have to live with it for quite a few years. Collect your furniture pieces as and when your budget allows, rather than buying low quality furniture in a hurry. And last but not least stick to a particular style, either conventional or contemporary, while decorating a room,” she concludes.