Why and How You Should Shop for Furniture at Muji

Above: Items available at Muji

Singaporeans really love Muji and it’s easy to see why; almost everything from Muji is basic and functional, with a clean design and without branding. We can fit Muji into our lives easily — like in the home, kitchen, office and school. And when you think, “hey, I need a small plain notebook…” you know you can find one at Muji (and it’s affordable too!). When you think, “I need a container…”, you don’t have to make the pilgrimage down to one of the two Ikeas; you can just find it at the many Mujis around Singapore.

Small items are easy purchases at Muji (just grab and go), but have you considered big ticket items like furniture? If you don’t already follow the “Muji House” Instagram account, you should. It’s absolutely beautiful and inspirational. It looks like this:

Above: PHOTOS TAKEN FROM INSTAGRAM.COM/MUJIHOUSE

Many of the furniture pieces featured are available in Muji Singapore stores, or can be ordered through Muji here. It may take some weeks for the order to arrive, but it’s worth the wait.

A good piece to start off with is anything from the Oak series. We recommend the Oak Table Round Legs W150cm ($1,699) and Oak Arm Chair Round Legs ($699 each). These solid oak wood pieces will last you well through the years and you can’t deny they are very pleasing on the eyes. Assuming the Muji stores don’t have ready stock of these, you have to pre-order them and they will take around 1 and a 1/2 months to deliver. Again, it’s worth the wait.

Above: Oak Table Round Legs and Oak Arm Chair Round Legs

You can check out the (almost) full catalogue of furniture from Muji at the Singapore website. If you can navigate around Japanese text, you definitely should spend some time on Muji’s Japan website; it is here that you will discover a world of Muji items that exist but are not necessarily available in Singapore — and you will want many of them (like the bicycles!). I believe that with the furniture, if you see something you like and want to buy, you probably can order it in through the local Muji store. No harm enquiring, right?

Another good purchase would be the Stacking Shelves that come in Oak or Walnut (light or dark wood). Prices start from $399 for a 2×3 system, to $799 for a 3×5 system. It’s also easy to mix and match to get the combination you need for your space.

Here are some examples of the stacking shelves in action:

Above: Photos from Muji.com/sg

As you can see, it’s a modular system where you can add boxes and wooden shelf inserts (also from Muji), that are a perfect fit for the holes.

Aside from Muji’s “standard” line of furniture, there’s also another range under the design brand, IDÉE. According to Muji’s website, “The theme of IDÉE is ‘Life is about everyday’. It means leading a life with aesthetic values for fun.” And you can see this philosophy in the furniture pieces; many of them have an injection of colour, and a playful design; yet retaining the same clean lines that fit nicely into a Muji store. Prices are a fair bit higher than general Muji furniture, but they are also unique and some are even one-off — and hard to come by — pieces.

There’s an IDÉE Instagram account as well that is truly worth following. This is what it looks like:

Above: PHOTOS TAKEN FROM INSTAGRAM.COM/LIFEWITHIDEE

IDÉE also has a selection of home accessories and clothing, with an example list of items on Muji Singapore’s website here. These are some of our favourite picks:

Do note that if you’re going to check out IDÉE, the collection is exclusive to Muji Plaza Singapura.

Visit WWW.MUJI.COM/SG to see more furniture,
and www.muji.com/sg/muji-meets-idee to read more about IDÉE.

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