Shimu: Bringing antique Chinese furniture to the UK

CGTN Europe

In the heart of Bradford, the UK City of Culture 2025, lies a hidden gem — Shimu, a British company that transforms antique Chinese furniture into sought-after pieces for collectors, luxury homeowners, and even Hollywood productions.  Read more ⬇️ https://tinyurl.com/yt9v95p3

Transcript

00:00Bradford, UK City of Culture 2025, recognised for its rich heritage and diverse artistic community,

00:09and amongst the theatres and the libraries, lives a unique collection of antique furniture.

00:15Wow.

00:17Established in 2003, Shimoo specialises in bringing vintage Chinese furniture to the British market,

00:23uniting Western connoisseurs with incredible ancient artistry,

00:28and each piece tells a unique story.

00:31That's an elm cabinet from Shang-Chi.

00:33That would have been used, I think, actually in a kitchen.

00:36So you have these lattice doors here that you put sort of hot food in there.

00:41Owner James works with antique hunters who scour villages across China to find special pieces.

00:47Some are shipped over exactly as they are, others need restoration,

00:51and undergo a process that helps to keep traditional Chinese craftsmanship alive.

00:56There's a lot of pieces where you really have to use your imagination, in some cases,

01:00because they look really far gone, and you think, how the hell can you, you know, breathe new life into that?

01:05But the guys we work with are very skilled.

01:08This would have been an old apothecary counter.

01:11So a Chinese medicine practitioner would have been from their shop.

01:16So you can see each of these drawers is divided into sections where they would have stored herbs and medicines of Chinese medicine.

01:25Shimu's customers are extremely varied, from people with a connection to China to those who simply love Chinese style.

01:32A lot of the time it's maybe one accent piece for a room, like a nice painted cabinet,

01:38or an altar table, or something like that.

01:42But it really does vary.

01:45You know, we've had people who have pretty much done the whole house out in Nori Edgles style.

01:49Due to the uniqueness of his collection, James is regularly contacted by film companies looking for authentic furnishing,

01:56including the team behind Bond movie Skyfall.

01:59This is the kind of thing that we produce for Skyfall.

02:04I want to meet your employer.

02:05Do you get a lot of these types of requests?

02:07No, because we're kind of unique in what we're doing.

02:09Like I said, there's very few people that do this kind of thing in the UK.

02:13So if you're a film or TV production company looking for, you know, oriental style furniture or antiques,

02:19then there's not many people to come to, so they'll find us online.

02:22The sideboards and cabinets that make it here to this showroom in Bradford have clearly withstood the test of time,

02:29not only surviving the centuries and travelling thousands of kilometres,

02:34but also retaining their appeal both as works of art and functional pieces of furniture.

02:41Now, thanks to Shimu, they can begin the next exciting chapter in their stories.

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