The company's chief wood carver, Xu Dazhi (right), who is the best in the trade in Beijing and has followed Yu for many years, plays an important role in ensuring the quality and taste of furniture. Jiang Dong / China Daily

Innovation is key

"China's entry into the WTO was really a game changer," Yu said and added that "many Chinese enterprises soon found out that their products could not compete with foreign ones." The reality of the situation made Yu realize innovation was the only way out for his company.

After comparing the main features of Chinese and Western furniture, Yu decided that he wanted to help Chinese furniture be better accepted by foreign consumers.

He said that because of cultural differences it was sometimes difficult for foreigners to understand the distinctive patterns on Chinese furniture. For example swastikas on Chinese furniture could be misinterpreted as the Nazi emblem, but the sign has its origin in Buddhism and since ancient times has been seen as an auspicious symbol in China, according to Yu.

In 2006 and 2007, Yu and his Italian chief designer Marcello Bennati drew up numerous designs and created furniture models to find the best way to seamlessly combine Chinese features with Western traditions.

Heyixing uses black walnut wood, which is very popular in international furniture designs, to make all its innovative furniture series. It chooses materials meticulously and strives for the best in each production process. The new series is a whole set of multiple furniture pieces for sitting rooms, bedrooms and study rooms.

In 2012, the new furniture series won the industrial designing award granted by the Chinese Ministry of Industry & Information Technology. The design and craftsmanship also caused a stir among domestic and international dealers at the Shanghai International Furniture Exhibition in 2013.

While preserving the best features from Chinese traditional furniture, the series also draws on popular Western concepts, which emphasize comfort, practicality and decorative functions. For example, the bedroom furniture series was created by integrating the natural, easy and smooth elements advocated by the Chinese with modern Western furniture manufacturing concepts.

Due to the handcrafted details of each piece of Heyixing's antiqued furniture, large-scale production is out of the question. It takes the company four months to complete a four-piece antiqued furniture set with one table, two chairs and a side table. The exception is the new vogue furniture in black walnut wood, which Heyixing has managed to produce on a larger scale after overcoming technical difficulties.