Millennials' yen for a room of fine furniture

Visitors look at the intelligent living room at China Telecom's booth at a telecommunication expo.[Photo by A Qing/For China Daily]

He said their demographics meant they were always open to new experiences, which meant changing their furniture more often.

"Many young people rent homes and they are constantly on the move, so they want furniture which is more affordable and can be thrown away," Wang said.

"Also, their fast-paced work and lives places mental stress on the young and it also explains why they want to live in places with light, simple and clean designs," Wang added.

"It provides a sense of comfort, compared to the heavy and serious Chinese furniture."

The latest trend in interior designs has opened a gate for international premium brands and for young designers.

Early in September, the East Design Show was successfully held at the China International Furniture Fair in Shanghai. The show attracted foreign retailers and designers.

Swedish Wood, a unit of the Swedish Forest Industries Federation, which promotes the use of pine in sustainable designs, attended the event.

"The popularity of northern European designs has encouraged the use of pine and timber product imports, designers and companies," said Swedish Wood representative Jiang Yincheng.

"But to fully meet the tastes of Chinese youngsters, the industry still needs to study the demographics more."

Jiang said he thought younger Chinese consumers were more rational in their purchasing decisions, as they valued design highly.

"Materials should not be the only criteria when deciding whether a piece of furniture is good or bad," Jiang said.

"Changing concepts about what makes a good piece of furniture have made creative design and various materials possible and profitable."

Many young and ambitious designers are on the same wavelength. Li Xiaoying, a 28-year-old interior design graduate based in Shanghai, said although she currently works on hotel room designs, she would like to apply for a housing design job in few years.

"There is joke among designers," Li said.

"When you walk into a well-furnished design studio, you may start to assess the wall paper by the color density, the pattern, the brightness, the tone, the underlining essence and how well it goes with the rest of the room.

"But your parent may ask: 'It's just a piece of paper so why does it cost so much?'"

Li said although it was still hard to force people pay for the ideas and design work behind a product, and moves to prevent copyright violations were still taking time to be fully effective, younger people were slowly changing their mindsets and starting to appreciate intellectual property.