When trudging through the stresses of daily life a calm home retreat can provide an atmosphere of relaxation and tranquility which has been known to have a positive overall affect on health. The Zen concept of interior design can achieve this.

ZenZa is an Irish grown company that was created to provide innovative design and decorating solutions by bringing the concept of 'Zen' into home decor. ZenZa has incorporated timeless Asian design in a contemporary model to create a uniquely different line of home furnishings and accessories.

The Zen style is clean and simple with little colour, taking a minimalist approach to room design. Zen decorating involves the use of metal, chrome, whites, creams and simple straight lines fused with light, sheer, airy materials. Earth tones work well as do solid colours with minimal patterns. Natural materials like bamboo, stone, wood and earthenware also fit in well with the Zen philosophy.

At its retail store, ZenZa has incorporated splashes of bright colours in its art and furnishings to add an interesting depth to the room designs.

As half the ZenZa partnership is based in Asia it sources eclectic and high quality items from the East and routinely visits designers and manufacturers throughout the continent.

ZenZa currently imports pieces from more than 10 Asian countries with many of these pieces designed specifically for Zenza.

Zenza works diligently to ensure that its products are made in an environmentally and socially conscious manner. Having established excellent relations with many small manufactures and design schools in places like Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore ZenZa has obtained the exclusive rights to many unique designs which are now available to the Irish customer via the ZenZa show room in Longford.

ZenZa carries a varied product portfolio including art-work, vases, candles, tableware, silks (bed clothes and tableware), statues, fountains, pottery, cutlery and much more. The care and dedication that goes into choosing the pieces ensures that the Irish buyer will find an unusual, unique piece to suit their taste. One piece that is particularly eye catching and aesthetically pleasing is the Carrera. This is an eight piece casual living wicker dining table designed for outdoor/conservatory living. The Zen influence is apparent in its colour and shape and is perfect for entertaining guests.

Browsing through the online catalogue the calming Zen effect kicks in and nothing seems out of place. That said, each piece is idiosyncratic (by itself) but well matched to other unique pieces. Such is the beauty of Zen.

Nothing is too complicated yet personality flows through each piece. The artistic quality of ZenZa pieces has a fresh visual feel to it and the serenity of the Zen concept runs nicely from each piece.

"ZenZa has been dealing from its showroom in Longford for eight weeks now and already the variety of quirky, funky pieces it carries attracts customers from all walks of life, " says Sinead Rynn, managing director of ZenZa.

"Our unique pieces are quite unusual yet contemporary, so they tend to appeal to anyone in the mid to high-end market, " she explains.