My Swedish friend was insulted I had so much Ikea in my apt.

Stop being psycho.

This is so interesting OP. I am painting my own Chinoiserie boards for above my bed--- am I culturally appropriating? Do I need to change the style of the little birds and flowers? Because they are just pretty little birds and flowers and I am doing them with my own two hands. I am Middle Eastern and I have always loved the motif- am I off the hook since my people were colonized?

Soooo many questions!

Well, the Chinese invented paper, so I suppose anyone using wallpaper (or paper books, or toilet paper) are equally guilty. Or, perhaps, equally innocent.

As the word indicates, it's an 18th century French appropriation of Asian motifs (mostly Chinese, but they weren't choosy at that time).

I'm multi-ethnic, and I really feel this fear of cultural appropriation has gone way, way too far.

Wear whatever the heck you want at Halloween. Decorate however you want.
In the USA, and recently in some other countries, you can't go as far as blackface. Skin changes are where most people draw the line.

But really. Do what you want. Life is too short.

What about Ikat fabric? And Moroccan-inspired rugs? And, and, and... It would be hard to know where to stop.

Go feed the homeless or staff a shelter--seriously try to solve a real problem, OP.

chinoiserie is French, so they appropriated it first. You're off the hook.

Just pick something else. There's 40,000 kinds of wallpaper.

Anonymous wrote:Oh ffs. Stop the madness.

+1

Oh ffs. Stop the madness.

TJ Maxx is amazing.

The US is a melting pot so whatever furniture is available to buy should be okay. That being said, if you actually travelled to a country and bought something, then at least it seems more legit compared to say...buying it at TJ Maxx.

Of course it is ok. Buy what you enjoy living in every day.

I was looking at wallpaper and saw some chinoiserie wallpaper with pagodas and other more asian inspired items. It made me think. I would not put tribal masks or tiki wallpaper up. I would not use kente cloth inspired patterns since they would feel disingenuous as a white person. But for some reason asian inspired wall paper or asian furniture doesn't immediately feel that way (but that may be my internalized racism at work). Is it ok to have furniture of other cultures or is that cultural appropriation and should not happen?

Is it different if you buy it when you live there / travel there or it does not matter?