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Feng Shui
The man who organises Boy George’s home talks about the ancient Chinese art of Feng Shui.
What links British Airways and Boy George? National institutions, yes, but what else connects the ’world's favourite airline’ and the man who said he preferred a cup of tea to sex? Answer: they both consult Feng Shui practitioner Simon Brown to organise their lives.
Brown, Feng Shui adviser to celebrities, multi-national P R l M I? L< s
companies and everyday people - 'they are not just yoga-type people’ — is a busy man. He regularly advises Boy George on the pros and cons of repositioning his pot plants. He is working alongside the architects of British Airways‘ new headquarters at Harmsworth, near London, advising on everything from colour schemes to the angle of executive desks.
He has also written a book Principles Of Feng Shui and is at the Book Festival in the appropriately named Lifestyle Tent to talk about his work.
'It has become a household name very quickly,’ says Brown of Feng Shui, which literally translates as Wind Water. ‘I think it is because the British are very fond of their homes.’
True. Back in the 805 Feng Shui hadn't entered into the British consciousness. As exotic and unpronounceable as sushi was in the 70s, it seemed another off-beat import from the East. Now lifestyle magazines talk about Feng Shui with the same ease as they once considered rag-rolling the bathroom.
Feng Shui is defined by Brown as 'the art of building design that is solely focused on the success of the occupants'. In short it is about tuning into the electromagnetic
energy in your body and your surroundings. Known as Chi, this energy can be positive or negative. One of the many theories about Feng Shui's origins suggests that a certain Fu Hsi devised the so-called Magic Square while at the banks of China’s river Lo, around 4000BC. The Magic Square has become an important tenet of the art.
Brown knows there are cynics out there who think Feng Shui is a load
COME AND MEET
A. Boy George: likes a spot of Feng Shui in the bedroom
of tosh but he’s convinced about its positive effects. 'Some people instinctively understand the ideas behind it but others just don't have an appreciation of their environment,’ he says. (Susanna Beaumont)
I Principles of Feng Shui by Simon Brown is published by Thorsons at
£5. 99. Feng Shui (Book Festival) Simon Brown, Lifestyle Tent, 220 3990, Sun 77, Ham/3pm, [3.50 (£2.50).
a Voyager
Stephen Baxter will be reading
from and signing copies of his
new hardback book Titan and paperback Voyage
Monday 18th August at 7pm DILLONS, 174-176 Argyle Street GLASGOW enquiries: 0141 248 4814
Tuesday 19th August at 7pm WATERSTONES, 13-14 Princes Street, EDINBURGH enquiries: 0131 556 3034
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so mausr 15—21 Aug 1997