decoRATING with Jason Kontos

When our web editor told me she was going to the Scandinavia House (Park Ave. at 38th St.) to view one of their current exhibitions tomorrow, it got me thinking about the region's design ethic: simplicity is the key to vertical living.

It's one that as New Yorkers we should keep in mind, for the obvious reasons.

Scandinavian design is minimal, yet inviting. Another culture that thinks along the same line is the Japanese.

I spent 3 months in Japan, as my sister was living there with her then astrophysicist husband. I remember seeing flatscreen TVs in Tokyo years before they appeared over here. And I did more shopping than I probably ever have since.

But my point is their way of thinking is the same: less is more. Keeping the small spaces that we do as city-dwellers, every square inch counts, but not every one of them needs to be filled.

This story, run in a past issue of ours, exemplifies this clarity of line these cultures illustrate so flawlessly.

A number of shops and manufacturers can also help you achieve this aesthetic.

Naga Antiques, Ltd. specializes in Japanese screens and fine Asian works of art. Country Swedish is to the trade only, located in the D&D. Scandinavian House (in Williamsburg Brooklyn) opened up last year, and Design House Stockholm is home to a number of innovative product designers. Both Design House Stockholm and Sakai City Industrial Promotion Center were both exhibitors at the New York International Gift Fair (Sakai under the Japan Pavilion). For more information on Sakai City products, email: info@mirausa.com. Marimekko is a leading Finnish textile and clothing design company. You can look for a location here.

Look for The Muse's review of SNØHETTA: architecture – landscape – interior showing at the Scandinavia House, tomorrow night.