feng shui meets design
wohnen | interior | feng shui | English translation
Incense sticks? Chimes? Trickling fountains? All of this is cliché Feng Shui. Interior Designer Michael Morten Neumayr shows the stylish variation. Best about it: It works!
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Arriving. The hallway “cool pink” plays with imbalance. Cool materials and clear forms dominate. The Arne Jacobsen chair pops out.
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Showering. In the ”Cuvillie” master bathroom the Contrast of Steel, glass and wood create balance
>The new feng shui claim: instead of esoteric, incense sticks and mandalas, finest Design<
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Bathing: The ”Cuvillie” bathtub is set lengthwise in a block and exudes earth energy
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Dining: all custom made furniture, like the dining table are made to exact feng shui measurements.
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Cooking: The kitchen belongs to the ”Cuvillie” ensemble, which designer Michael Morten Neumayr designed for a Munich apartment. Even if you don’t care about far eastern spirituality it sure looks good.
That all these interiors are designed, following strict feng shui rules, Michael Morten Neumayr must add specifically. Most people automatically connect feng shui with esoteric, incense sticks and mandalas. That’s the classic Asian version, but that’s not necessarily something for Europeans. The negative influences of our high-tech living environment need feng shui of a different kind to create a healthy a harmonic ambience, says the 34 year old, who fuses design and feng shui.
The Chinese teachings of harmony about the right flow of energy became mainstream. Insurances, publishers and retailers now more often consult with a feng shui consultant when planning their buildings and interiors. The reason is simple: In a good and healthy environment, the employees are happier, healthier and more productive.
What a feng shui consultant does, is acupuncture on the building. He makes sure, there is a good flow of energy, which creates harmony. What makes a feng shui interior different? First the balance of Yin and Yang, female and male forms of energy, materials, colors and surfaces, explains the designer, who was educated in the USA. It becomes very clear in his “”Cuvillie” bathroom. Here the balance is being created through a mixture out of cold “Yang materials”, like steel and glass and warmer “Yin materials” like wood, cotton and pebbles.
Not only materials but also shapes play a role. “ The long and flat shape of the bathtub has “earth energy” thus female energy, the shower - to the contrary - is pure male energy. Water as such, stands for life energy, which is transported upwards by the shape of the shower stall. The shower is entirely made of glass; even the floor is made of glass. If you take a shower in the morning you are literally charged with energy”, said Neumayr.
He doesn’t make any compromises when it comes to the measurements of his furniture designs; he always designs them to special feng shui measurements, which stand for wealth, health and happiness.
It doesn’t always have to be a perfect balance. Sometimes one needs more Yin or Yang aspects to create the right level of energy. “Cool Pink”, the hallway, which I designed for a girl friend of mine, is Yang room. The hallway was purposely brought out of balance. It was very dark and had too much Yin energy and we wanted to fill in with more Yang, thus more active, lighter energy.”
The Salzburger who lives in Munich and LA achieved this by playing with cold glass and aluminum, very clear forms and the lighting.” Of course there is a certain balance. For example the vivacious warm palisander wood, the seemingly floating side board is made of, the play between contrasting colors like hot pink and ice blue and the use of round shapes, like the Arne-Jacobsen-chair.” And then there is yet another little detail: “ My girl friend wanted to find Mr. Right. Therefore I integrated a Chinese Symbol, which stands for “double luck” in her relationship corner. She found him.”
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doing dishes. Feng shui also means to get rid of cluttering, keeping things tidy, taking the mess out. This also applies to the kitchen, that’s why one would rarely encounter dirty dishes in this solution.
Sidebar: Michael Morten Neumayr: furniture for wealth, health and good luck.
The 34 year old runs his studio for product and interior design in Munich since 1993, which designs furniture, lamps, store interiors and trade show booths for various European companies. His specialty is the fusion of western design with Asian philosophy.
1988-1991: Studies of product design in Montreux, Switzerland and Pasadena California.
1998 Diploma as Qi-Mag Feng Shui Consultant
2000 Enters ‘Top 200 Designer Listing”, by md
2001 “ Austrian State Prize Design”, “The Joseph Binder Award”
