After about a 45 minute taxi ride, our first furniture vendor, Royal (the English name he has taken), greeted us at an intersection in his part of the metropolis and then drove us in his van to his furniture warehouse. His warehouse offered us rows and rows of stacked furniture to choose from.  Not being air conditioned, the place was hot, humid, dimly lit and dusty; ah, warehouse shopping in Shanghai. Hand-selecting our furniture is very important to us and we think to our customers. This process allows us to inspect each piece by seeing and touching, looking inside drawers, testing finishes, accessing the craftsmanship and to ask questions from the suppliers. We have rejected many pieces because they didnot meet our standards.

We felt comfortable with Royal's  knowledge of the furniture and the furniture business. Royal's true passion is designing furniture with a new interpretation of Chinese style. We learned that he personally collects furniture, from around China, and restores and/or repairs the piece as needed in his warehouse. Over the centuries, much of the antique stock of furniture, in China, has been damaged due to neglect and the conditions in which they have been housed. We hand-selected about 45 pieces of furniture from his collection.