The Tao of Furniture: Circa a.d. Interior Design in Linda Vista

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San Diego's Circa a.d. specializes in contemporary -- yet extraordinary -- Asian-inspired home and lifestyle décor.

Even Circa a.d.'s retail showroom invites contemplation. The brick warehouse is lofty, spacious. Trance music plays in the background and sunlight illuminates the polished concrete floor. Embroidered Japanese kimonos hang from a soaring whitewashed wood beam ceiling. Korean chests, Tibetan doors, Indonesian tables and Chinese statuettes encircle contemporary living and dining furniture ensembles like interested customers.

Circa a.d. owner and interior designer Rob Horby's line of contemporary furniture includes a mahogany coffee table ($825) made in Java, accented with rare Buddha's Belly bamboo, and topped with miniature acid-green crackle-glazed vases.

A richly textured ebony dresser ($1395), a set of pale Japanese sliding doors ($450), and two square, minimalist white lamps ($250) frame a sleek king-sized leather platform bed ($1150) dressed up with a sumptuous red Thai-silk bedspread ($325). This bedroom composition, arranged according to the principles of Feng Shui, exudes balance and calm.

"This is the perfect example of how my furniture works with my antiques," says Rob, "This is a blend of the old and the new, the East with the West. It's all contemporary classic lines. The warm colors soften the modern angles."

Rob's current palette of choice? "Orange. Taupy, creamy colors. Lots of orange right now. After all, orange is the new red."

To understand Rob's design aesthetic, one might look to his background with the Navy. While stationed in Japan, Korea and the Philippians, he immersed himself in Eastern culture and developed a passion for Asian style. Soon afterwards, he began collecting and importing Asian furniture.

Circa a.d. opened in 1993 as an antique mall in Hillcrest, expanded into furniture design, and moved to its present location on Grant Street in Linda Vista four years ago. The initials in the name, a.d., stand for "Anno Dominae', 'Antique Dealers' and 'Asian Design.'

Rob derives inspiration from the antiques he continues to import and sell alongside his contemporary line. Surprising details like round ring handles and polished zelkova panels dress up the clean lines of his current favorite, an elm Japanese kitchen chest from the 1850's ($2950). It is a functional heirloom piece, which, in the modern context, can discreetly hold an entertainment system behind its solid doors. Surprisingly versatile, it is actually two pieces in one. The top can be unstacked from the bottom to fit small living spaces.

Rob also favors an Indonesian teak bed, with a base wide enough for a single mattress, and a canopy of ornately carved wood, inset with dancing dragons ($1850).

Finding these museum-quality pieces requires an eye for detail and a treasure hunter's instinct. One showpiece is a collection of delicately glazed blue and white vessels which originated from a 1400 shipwreck in the South China Sea near the port of Hoi An. Its contents lay shrouded beneath the sea for 600 years until modern Vietnamese fishermen pulled up artifacts in a net. Auctioned off by San Francisco based company, Butterfields, pieces were acquired by museums around the world and Circa a.d. is the only retailer to offer them to the public. Customers who want their own piece of history can purchase wares such as the Hoi An Hoard Medium Bowl ($350).

Antique collecting and furniture design is serious business. Not surprisingly, Rob's clients are older and more established. Many have recently completed a remodel and desire a fresh look for new interior spaces.

"We start off by walking around the showroom," he says. "I get opinions on what items my clients like and don't like. We look at floor plans. I aim to find beautiful heirlooms that reflect the personality of the client."

Design commissions have ranged from one room to entire houses and incorporate both Rob's contemporary furniture and his imports.

Pointing to a set of three intricately painted antique Tibetan doors hanging above a modern lacquered bookcase, Rob sums Circa a.d.'s abiding philosophy. "It's the mix, not the match."