BIFF 2018 Beijing International Home Furnishing Expo: How Far Is It from Japan's Home Upgrade?

These past two days, Xiaolu and Huli were invited to cover

the BIFF 2018 Beijing International Home Furnishing Expo hosted by Easyhome.

Huli also gave an on-site talk titled "New Trends in Home Upgrades Among Japan's New Middle Class."

Today we'll not only share some of our observations from the expo,

but also cover part of the talk's content.

This is a flagship mattress we saw yesterday while wandering through the software hall,

at the Sealy booth.

The full set was priced at around 400,000 yuan.

The materials chosen were soft, premium ones like alpaca wool and cashmere.

In terms of function, the brand collaborated with orthopedic surgery specialists,

using titanium alloy wire as springs,

which can provide comfortable back support

and reduce the number of times you toss and turn during sleep.

As a well-known European and American home brand,

Sealy can represent the choice of the European and American middle class.

In fact, Simmons Black Label and some of the European and American brands mentioned next

aren't all that different from Sealy in direction.

However, in Japan mattresses are replaced every year,

but a mattress this expensive would not be replaced for at least 5 years.

From this simple example, you can see that home upgrades in Europe and America and in Japan

follow different paths.

So how does Japan carry out home upgrades?

Today Keyu Life Study Group will talk with you about:

1. Are more luxurious materials and more complex functions the only path to improving sleep comfort?

2. Why aren't functional beds and functional sofas popular in Japanese living rooms?

3. In Japan's home upgrade trends, how far has China already come?

Are more luxurious materials and more complex functions

the only path to improving sleep comfort?

Today we won't mention those fake upgrades that go "from usable for 5 years to usable for 10 years."

Along the direction of "functional upgrades,"

one home manufacturer upgraded a bed-end bench into a tea table,

and won a home design award.

In recent years, functional bed upgrades have become popular in China.

When it comes to functional beds and functional sofas in China,

to put it in one sentence,

beds are gradually taking on the functions of sofas,

and sofas are gradually taking on the functions of beds.

For example, the bed can be adjusted to different angles,

125° is suitable for reading, 140° is suitable for scrolling on your phone, and so on.

One home brand also launched this kind of bed that divides the functional zones,

suitable for situations where people sleep separately.

Without disturbing others,

you can adjust the bed to a position that's comfortable for you.

This is also one type of functional bed.

In fact, many of Japan's new middle class also choose large beds.

After all, once you have children and have been married for a long time,

the bed always feels too small.

But the large beds they choose

are often just especially large in size (the one above is 2.8 m wide).

Functionally, there's nothing particularly special.

As we've introduced before,

what they really pay attention to

is breaking down the overall function of the mattress

and replacing it with five layers of pads with different functions.

The bottommost mattress is replaced once every year.

Disposable mattresses are low in price,

but they can keep the bed clean and fresh.

By analogy with contact lenses,

both are about improving comfort,

but the European and American style of consumption upgrade makes the annual disposable ones "more advanced,"

while the Japanese style of consumption upgrade makes the daily disposable ones "more professional."

Even the most luxurious mattress

will eventually breed dust mites.

The bed board underneath

really is just a board.

This is a kind of "this is good enough" functional aesthetics.

Because in the final analysis,

"the bed's job is to support the mattress."

If we really must say what upgrades Japanese beds have had in recent years,

it's that they've developed this kind of

folding structure that makes ventilation and mite removal easier.

Unless a bed that automatically airs the bedding at the push of a button appears in the future,

I doubt they could really make the kind of high-tech functional beds found in China.

So for the same bedding upgrades,

Europe and America focus more on technology and materials with "annual disposable upgrades,"

while Japan focuses more on health and professionalism with "daily disposable upgrades."

Daily disposable upgrades don't mean all mattresses have to be discarded often,

but rather that they're divided into different parts or modules that can be discarded or used long term.

Both could become future directions,

but China's current mainstream

is still stuck at "the stage where WeChat merchants promote latex mattresses and latex pillows as not needing mite removal."

By the way,

even if latex protein has anti-mite properties,

its content is only 2%.

And the air holes in latex pillows make it easy for dust and skin flakes to accumulate,

plus latex pillows are relatively hard to dry after washing,

so they actually make it easier for dust mites to breed.

Why aren't functional sofas popular in Japan?

Functional sofas are a typical "annual disposable upgrade."

For example, Zuoyou Sofa and Cheers.

Zuoyou Sofa's designs are a bit lighter and thinner.

Just gently touch the side, and the sofa unfolds like a bed.

Full of tech feel.

At this expo we also visited the American La-Z-Boy sofa booth,

said to be the world's first manufacturer of functional sofas.

You can think of it as a "higher-spec version of Cheers."

The exclusive seating in the White House theater in the United States is also this brand.

This Transformer seat is sized for children.

Like many American furniture styles,

it has a rugged, powerful wooden handle.

The raising and lowering of the footrest is controlled by the wooden handle on the side.

Compared with Cheers' button for automatically raising and lowering the footrest,

although La-Z-Boy requires you to manually raise the footrest,

the feel of its wooden handle turns the process into a pleasure.

The leather choices and colors are more refined than Cheers',

and it doesn't look as heavy as Cheers either.

One reason Japanese families don't value functional sofas

is that functional sofas, after all, only improve comfort while watching TV.

And many Japanese-style families actually watch TV less frequently than Americans do.

Even the sofa is placed in the area facing the children as they play.

Because in their eyes,

the point of sitting down to rest is not watching TV,

but being with the children and family.

We think this kind of "family bond" may be more suited to Chinese culture.

As in China,

once you have children, most of the living room area has to give way to them.

A new trend in Japan is the island sofa without a partial backrest.

Its role is to divide the living room area,

The area where adults watch TV and the area where children play,

in one space, without disturbing each other.

When you are watching TV,

the child can climb up from all angles to play with you.

Island sofas are not yet widespread in Japan.

But from the perspective of "the sofa's role is to divide functional zones,"

many families also use this modular sofa,

which can be freely combined into different layouts for the living room and the study.

Some domestic brands at this year's Beijing home furnishing exhibition

also launched similar designs.

And the function of a reclining functional sofa,

is often fulfilled by Persian rugs and ultra-soft fiber rugs.

How far has Japanese-style home upgrading come in China?

In fact, offline home furnishing exhibitions and e-commerce platforms

differ greatly in their home upgrading trends.

Speaking of the Japanese-style "disposable home upgrading,"

a fairly typical example is the storage cabinet.

Because a storage cabinet, at the end of the day,

is a "disposable drawer cabinet."

For example, the very mainstream acrylic cosmetic storage boxes on Taobao

originated from MUJI,

as improved, stackable versions in China.

The benefits need no elaboration:

they suit different needs of different people.

The focus of manufacturers and brands

is not on high-end materials and complex functions,

but on the "good enough" need of "sizes that fit mainstream cosmetics."

The popularity of acrylic cosmetic storage boxes

is enough to show that, at least on the vanity,

"China has not taken the American-style upgrading path."

Transparent shoe boxes are another example,

and we won't give more examples for this category.

Japanese-style cleaning products,

including upgrades such as oil-fume-absorbing vacuum sheets and lazy cleaning cloths,

as well as nano sponges (Magic Eraser) and electrostatic dusting sheets,

have already become quite popular in China.

All of them belong to the "disposable upgrading" mentioned today.

Not to mention products like dinner plates:

in recent years, Chinese people have also found that overglaze decoration is bad for health,

gradually abandoning colorful patterns

in favor of natural materials and minimalist design.

When will

Chinese people generally appreciate

exquisite designs that are minimalist yet comfortable, like the Hiroshima chair,

and even domestic brands be able to produce such designs?

Can domestic brands combine the strengths of European, American and Japanese home upgrading

and forge their own path?

This requires design masters,

but more importantly, it requires upgrading of demand.

The Desirable Life Study Group will keep following this,

and will continue to report new good home products for everyone.

Upgrading a bed means better support for the mattress,

upgrading a sofa means dividing functional zones,

upgrading a vanity means fitting cosmetics.

This kind of home upgrading,

do you find it desirable?

What other good Japanese-style home upgrading products do you know?

Feel free to share in the comments~

This article is original content by the Desirable Life Study Group; please indicate the source when reposting.

For more good Japanese-style home upgrading products,