By Sherry Koh | Mar 16, 2010

The A-to-Z of home décor

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Facing one of the main veins of SS2 (Jalan SS2/24) are shops where women piece their long-awaited dream day together - bridal shops. Realising another sort of home bliss along these rows of bridal shops is A2Z Home Furnishing /Yuan Design.

The showroom's facade.

According to owner Zessie Lee Hui Yuan, the ‘Yuan’ in Yuan Design refers to China’s currency, which is called yuan or renmimbi. It works well, since Yuan is in her name too!

Yuan Design was incorporated in year 1993 in Singapore and in year 2004, the company traversed across the Johore Strait to Malaysia. Following the success of her interior design firm in Malaysia, Lee opened a showroom in SS2 called A2Z Home Furnishing.

You can furnish every room in your house as they have everything from A to Z, hence the name. In retrospect, Z could refer to herself, Zessie, and in a happy coincidence, A could stand for Alvin, her Malaysian partner and decorator. The companies’ name might be the result of coincidences, but their success is not.

Making a statement
The design house cum showroom breaks the pattern of windows featuring mannequins with elegant flowy gowns. Instead, the showroom displays another facet of elegance. Sleek and chic décor pieces and furniture designed to make statements in homes are featured in various sections of the 5,000sq ft showroom. From afar, the showroom’s exterior looks like four quadrants glued together, almost like four gigantic cubes stacked neatly on top and beside one another.

Unique in every way

According to Vivian Chan, Interior Designer and Showroom Assistant Manager, they offer design-and-build services. One of the latest commercial projects that they provided their brand of concept design was for a hotel at Reunion Island, France. She also commented that from October 2009 to February 2010, most of the interior design requested for homes was modern and also black-and-white concepts.

When asked whether customers should readily bring a magazine or visual reference to depict their preferred look and feel, Chan said that customers can start by deciding on a colour scheme. They could bring a magazine as reference, but Yuan Design will still put their touch of “yuan-ness” to each project. After all, people engage interior design firms because they seek something special. Well said, Ms Chan!

Marvellous marbles
No, not the small spherical “guli-guli” that children play with. Presently, the showroom features an extensive selection of work made from white marble, which has a subtle glitter that is evident from certain angles.

The showroom’s unique home décor pieces and furniture are sourced from various countries such as Hong Kong, China, Italy and others. The rule of thumb that the purchasing team adheres to is to locate items that are not available yet desired amongst Malaysians.

The many "faces" sculpted from marble

Chan's selection
When asked to select item(s) that one can purchase to make it a focal point in one’s home for under RM2,500, Chan picks them with ease. In between selecting the many available decorations, she emphasised that it is important to look at a room overall, because for example, an Asian painting can fit into a contemporary home just as well as an Asian home concept.

(L-R): Modern Classic: Marble candle holder, RM399 Fresh Cottage: Leaf-motif pot/vase, RM399 to RM599; Marble lady figurines, RM299 to RM499 each

Clockwise from top left: Simply Mod: Comfy lazy chair, RM2,120; Strings of light, RM1,350 each; Marble 3D art, RM1,299 / RM888 (smaller) each	Clockwise from top left: Asian Aesthetics: Painting, featuring an actual rope, RM1,299; Marble Tai Chi figurines – featuring the 7 movements in Tai Chi, RM499 each; Marble 3D flower art, RM499 each

Company/Seller Information Yuan Design / A2Z Home Furnishing +603-7876 2155 203, Jalan SS2/24, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor