A room is a decision about how you want to be tired at the end of the day.

I live in forty-eight square metres in Tokyo with one good chair and far too many bowls, so I have had to mean that. I trained as an architect and left to write, which my teachers took badly. Uchi (内) means inside, and it means home: the room you come back to. The palette comes after the tiredness. So does the name on the lamp.

This is where I keep what the world's rooms are doing. Around seventy sources, read in Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian, French and English: an apartment in Seoul, a house outside Taipei, a Copenhagen showroom seen from here rather than from Denmark. East first, because east is where I am sitting.

Each story is a headline, an excerpt of a few lines, one photograph and a link to whoever did the work. We never reprint the piece, and the photograph belongs to the person who took it. When a room was written up in Korean or Italian it stays in Korean or Italian here; the link takes you to the writer's own words.

I am not trying to be complete. I am trying to notice.

— Mio Tachibana, Tokyo

← Uchi Archive

Livingetc

I Went to Sit on All the John Lewis Armchairs I Could — These Were the Ones I Actually Loved for Looks and Comfort

10.19

An armchair has a funny way of becoming everyone’s favorite seat — or the one that looks lovely in the corner but somehow never gets sat in.

Read at Livingetc ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

I Went to Sit on All the John Lewis Armchairs I Could — These Were the Ones I Actually Loved for Looks and Comfort

More from Livingetc on Uchi

Are You Brave Enough to Paint a Gloss Ceiling? The 'Next Step' of Color Drenching, Debated Livingetc

Heard of Schplendid Sofas? I Visited This Still-Quite-New Brand's Showroom and Put Their Couches Through Their Paces Livingetc

Before, It Was Modern, but a Little Soulless — Now, Founder Grace Beverley's Kitchen Feels Like It's Been Part of This House for Decades Livingetc

I Went to the Main Frieze Week Events So You Don't Have to — 3 Rising Trends Show Art and Decor Grappling With the Present Livingetc

5 Stylishly Unexpected Colors That Designers Really Want You to Know Go With Yellow Livingetc

The Coolest Interior Designers in Paris Will Make You Rethink This 'Retro' Trend Livingetc