Chinese Design Through the Gaze of Architectural Digest

Chinese Design has a long-lasting relationship with the West, and it was particularly popular in the 17th and 18th century Europe. Chinoiserie is a European style born from this popularity, and Chinese Design has many forms including pre-modern, contemporary, and imitation, next to chinoiserie. The Literature review has shown that the varied forms of Chinese Design are present in the interiors of the elite, but the majority of the academic literature is written from an art history perspective and mostly focuses on the 16th till early 20th century. Moreover, the topics of Chinese Design and elite interiors, is barely present in the cultural sociology field. Thus, this study conducted a longitudinal content analysis with a data sample from Architectural Digest, an interior decorating magazine, containing 5 ads and 66 articles that range from 1927 till 2024. The aim was to discover if there were trends visible in the writing of Chinese Design from a Western perspective, and to analyze if other non-design topics are related to Chinese Design within interiors. This study analyzed the data from a consumption sociology vantage, which became the main lens, and which showcased four main perspectives on consumption: enjoyment, spending, identity and education. In addition, this study also included a global cultural taste and cosmopolitanism review. Last, Orientalism and Exoticism were also considered. The findings show that pre-modern Chinese Design is often admired among the elite and that collecting as a hobby is often the case for these Chinese Design admirers. Furthermore, Chinese Design is still present in the interiors of the elite, and these elites are often presented as cosmopolitans. Politics were omnipresent in the findings, but they were directed to societies and economies that differed from capitalism. Chinese Design was highly respected, in fact, this study considers to have found a form of an interior design canon for the elite, in which Chinese Design and Western Design are equally important.