Design studio Yatofu has refined the interiors of a teahouse in downtown Helsinki with components of brick, oak and oxidised metal.
The Teemaa cafe, which serves conventional Chinese language and Japanese teas with out synthetic components, was renovated to mirror each the craft of the brewing course of in addition to the uncooked tactile high quality of the tea leaves themselves.
“A grounded palette of sincere and textural supplies was extracted from these used within the means of tea making,” defined Yatofu.
“These have been reinterpreted into a recent house by way of the usage of fashionable varieties, with a concentrate on handmade qualities to create a visible dialogue that speaks to the markings of time and craftsmanship.”
Guests enter the teahouse through a retail space, the place packaged teas are displayed on oxidised metal cabinets suspended between reside edge columns of oakwood.
Thick-cut blocks of oak additionally type the counter on the centre of the room, supported by a base constructed from grooved bricks.
On the opposite aspect of the teahouse is a light-filled seating space the place guests can calm down with their sizzling drinks.
Oak was used right here once more to craft a collection of chairs, stools and tabletops, in addition to a protracted bench seat.
Oxidised metal ledges set inside a shallow wall area of interest showcase a number of modern magazines for teatime studying.
A gauzy white curtain screens off a tasting space in the direction of the again of the room, the place guests can pattern a few of the model’s most unusual tea flavours and be taught concerning the artwork of tea making.
The house is anchored by a weathered picket desk, above which hangs a bulbous paper lantern.
A textured characteristic wall is clad half in conventional flat bricks and half in the identical grooved bricks that have been used beneath the desk within the retail space.
To chop again on waste, Yatofu calculated early on what number of bricks can be required for these components and despatched any offcuts to be recycled.
Teemaa’s last room accommodates a putty-coloured kitchen suite the place drinks are ready, whereas numerous paraphernalia together with teapots and ornate Japanese-style teacups is introduced on the encircling partitions.
The entire room’s partitions are rendered in beige plaster save for one nook, the place a sliver of the constructing’s time-worn structural shell has been left uncovered.
Final 12 months, Yatofu founders Yihan Xiang and Angela Lindahl designed a mixed-use submit workplace for the Chinese language metropolis of Ningbo.
The undertaking was named small retail inside of the 12 months on the 2021 Dezeen Awards, with judges praising it for being “playful, partaking and fantastically achieved”.
The pictures is by Aleksi Tikkala.
Challenge credit:
Video: Mark Vicuña
Set design and styling: Piia Emilia
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