Khai Liew is one of Australia’s most innovative furniture designers. He was born in Malaysia in 1952 and immigrated to Australia in 1971. Mr. Liew has no formal design training, instead he worked as an antique furniture dealer and conservator prior to creating bespoke furniture pieces. In 1996 he established Khai Liew Designs in Norwood, South Australia. Mr. Liew is driven by the beauty of material and utilises natural materials such as wood, stone, leather, grass and linen. His work is informed by various historical and cultural influences including Danish mid-twentieth century designers, Chinese furniture of the Ming Dynasty (13th and 16th centuries) and simple Australian colonial furniture. Mr. Liew believes that his objects need to be functional but that they must be beautiful. He is motivated ultimately by his clients’ immediate emotional response to the material and the form of the object.
