For Japanese furniture company IDÉE,

Established in 1975, this Tokyo lifestyle brand prides itself on exploring different lifestyles and promoting a pleasant daily life through their furniture and goods. It has a rich history in importing and selling antiques from West London. With more than 10 stores across Japan, IDÉE has managed to carve its own place in the Japanese furniture and lifestyle marketplace by creating a new culture of design. This new culture placed human relationships first: relationships between customer, designer and company.

In 2012, they partnered with MUJI, showcasing an interesting variety of household items as well as ideas for the home. The MUJI meets IDÉE project was a mix of old and new, and a perfect balance between handcrafted goods and mass-produced items.

Perhaps LIFECYCLING was born out of this growing need for that balance between idealism and practicality in the home. LIFECYCLING is a web magazine that introduces individuals who are passionate about creating living spaces that are both attractive and functional.

You can see IDÉE’s brand ethos shine through in this project as well, working together with talented photographers to bring each home to life. It doesn't seem to matter if they’re young or unknown – their skills speak for themselves.

So what exactly is LIFECYCLING? According to IDÉE, it is a ‘cycle’ or a sort of regenerative creative or imaginative power that makes emotional connections between people, memories, nature, items and living (in a space).

Everyone featured in LIFECYCLING is deeply involved and picky about what goes into their homes. Through the beautifully captured photographs, we get a glimpse into their unique but harmonious lives, and get a sense of how they choose things and have fun with them. LIFECYCLING uses the analogy of a bird’s nest to convey the aesthetic and philosophy more poignantly: since every bird’s nest is unique, we all have our own individual lifestyles. By surrounding ourselves with a lot of ‘things’, ‘objects’ and ‘stuff’, can we learn from others about how to choose the important things that let us live well? After all, less is more and simplicity is virtue!

Each of the homes shows a lot of restraint in materials and colours, yet it is full of charm. We peer into an artist’s living quarters, overflowing with paraphernalia and ideas. We are allowed to peruse their bookshelves, and look at how they arrange their shoes at the genkan.

The physical form of LIFECYCLING was published in late 2013, and features 16 people who live in Japan or Los Angeles. Like the online version, every home offers a fresh and impressive perspective on how creative people live. Dreamy, atmospheric photographs dominate the book, supported by the thoughtful interviews that follow in both Japanese and English. A supplement slipped in secretly at the back, gives readers additional insight into the names and terminologies that the interviewees mentioned.

So if you’re planning on giving your home a little sprucing up, why not head to website or pick up a copy of LIFECYCLING and get inspired? Maybe you’ll be able to find a creative way of living well!

Official website: www.ideelifecycling.com