A fascination with the Orient, with martial arts, cooking and feng shui, could expand for many Bermudians to include Chinese furniture.

Everyday Chinese furniture, the sort used by those living in villages and small towns, can now be seen bought on the Island.

Husband and wife team Stephen and Kim Lusher have fallen in love with the rural art form and decided to make them available to the local market.

"We have been selling antique furniture for 20 years,'' said Mr. Lusher. "We know Bermuda, English and French very well but this is very different, exotic even.'' The Lushers have rented what used to be The Sportsman Shop on Reid Street to showcase the furniture up until Christmas and plan a grand opening tonight.

But the shop has already attracted a lot of attention with many people making offers on the pieces.

"People have been stopping us and asking questions just as we moved the pieces from the truck in here,'' said Mrs. Lusher.

"The furniture is so different -- it's really attracted people and they have been people from all walks of life and all races. It's been very interesting to us,'' she added.

The showroom looks very much like a country carpenter's workshop as the furniture is probably best described as Chinese country style.

The room has been transformed from its days of tennis rackets and bowling balls, with everything from slim wooden benches and small stools with drawers to wooden trunks, wood and wicker picnic baskets, wedding chests and even a kitchen cabinet.

The items are not only new to the Bermuda market but also to the world market.

It has only been about ten years that the Chinese government has allowed this type of furniture to be exported.

"The Chinese used to make furniture for export,'' Mrs. Lusher said, "but it was European style and produced solely to be exported.'' "This is the actual furniture used by the average people in towns and villages and it gets passed down from generation to generation within a family,'' said Mr. Lusher. "Most of the items we have here are about 100-150 years old.'' Apart from a few baskets, a large porcelain pot and a large metal pan, all the items are made of wood.

"We have pieces in elm, cedar, cypress, pine and assorted hardwoods no chip board here,'' Mr. Lusher said. "And the artisans who made these pieces didn't use nails, many of the joints are intricately made to fit together, some are glued and a few are held together with dowels which instead of being round are square shaped.'' The Lushers' love of the pieces becomes clearly evident as they explain each item on display.

Chinese furniture "This cabinet was painted red to ward off evil spirits,'' Mrs. Lusher said.

"We are learning that there are so many little nuances to the work, many of the figures used represent things like longevity, prosperity and love.

"Everything they made was beautiful and functional,'' said Mr. Lusher as he explained how a special barber's chair used to be carried from town to town as a ready made shop.

"In the homes of the Chinese, the furniture is simply laid around the perimeter of the room,'' he added, "and items are pulled to the centre as needed. If you were having people to dinner you would pull the table to the centre of the room at that time.'' "And we learned that the culture is very much embedded in the furniture too,'' said Mrs. Lusher. "Round backed chairs were used for nobles and women sat on stools not chairs.

"But we have discovered too that the artisans who made this sort of furniture were much freer to express themselves. Furniture made for the nobility had to conform to strict style with a dragon's claw for example, having to have five toes.

"While the artisans who made this furniture were not allowed to use any of the official emblems and colours, they were left free to use anything else.'' Mrs. Lusher said she felt that the surge of interest in feng shui coupled with interest in the marshal arts, Bermudians would embrace the new look of the Chinese country furniture.

"Bermudians are so creative, there are so many creative and imaginative people here,'' she said, "I think many would love to incorporate these pieces into their home decor.'' "We brought in items that we thought were very versatile,'' said Mr. Lusher.

"We were aiming for something beautiful, but functional and able to be adapted to our lifestyle.''