A Tea House Where Tea Inspires Everything.
This concept store was launched recently by Kirin Gogo no Kocha, one of Japan’s leading black tea brands. In contrast to the world of coffee, where there seems to be a constant stream of new concepts, not much happens in the world of tea. This shop was designed as a place to start making black tea news.
In order to create a novel space completely different from the typical chic, subdued tea salon, we turned to tea as the inspiration for all aspects of the design. The colors used in the classic herringbone flooring represent black tea and tea with milk.
The potted plants are tea trees, the chairs are upholstered in leather the color of tea with milk and tea with lemon, and the other furniture and finishes also feature a tea-inspired palette. The red color is taken directly from Kirin’s tea packaging, while the cushions are dyed with three types of black tea leaves.
The “tea lights” in the seating area and above the tea servers use Japan’s world-class food modelling technology to meticulously recreate the many variations on black tea served at the shop, including carbonated tea drinks, fruit tea drinks, layered teas, and of course tea brewed from various leaves. The tea house is literally illuminated by the many colors of black tea.
Nothing in the shop-including the hanging chairs in shades of milk and milk-tea-resembles what one might find in a typical tea salon, but everything is inspired by tea. It’s all designed to offer a relaxing new kind of black tea experience.
Project Credits
Designer : Ryusuke Nanki / Dentsu
Client : Kirin Beverage Company,Limited
Total floor area : 142,54 sqm
Location : Daikanyama,Tokyo
Photos courtesy: Junpei Kato
Project team : Art direction:Moe Furuya , Hiromi Uzaki
Strategist／CD : Yosuke Mamiya
Co-spatial design: Kae Yamashita
Construction management：Yukio Marumori , Minoru Suzuki , Kazuro Hikota , Keisuke Ogata
Copy writing: Nadya Kirillova,Yuki Takahiko
Planner: Michiko Kato , Katsumi Tanaka
Graphic design + Illustration (Person): 6kai / Illustration(Food) : Ari Suzuki
Food design/Shop management : OISEAU
Cushion design : Katsutaka Shimazu
AE: Hiroto Fujinami, Taro Kitazawa , Motofumi Osumi, Hiroki Ochi
Agency: DENTSU INC./Tokikitaru Inc /Study and Design/NOMURA Co.,Ltd.
Ryusuke Nanki is a Japanese designer, born in 1984 in Tokyo. Graduated from Keio University and studied under Shigeru Ban. As a designer, worked for various companies. At the same time, worked for exhibition space planning and designing. Recently worked as the head of production and design for the first European showing of the “L’art de Rosanjin” exhibition at the Guimet Museum in Paris.
