Design / Uchida Design Institute

Interior designer Shigeru Uchida’s Shokuan Teahouse is his latest masterpiece, following the Re-an, So-an, and Gyo-an teahouses.

Japanese houses were divided from the outside to the inside by Japanese paper arrangements called shoji.
It is a fragile and delicate paper partition.
The washi made by Requ has holes in it, which makes it even more ambiguous as a partition.
The notions of “pause” and “empty space” are created by the back and forth between two points and the fluctuation.
The tea room expresses this “ambiguity”.

The tea room is called a “small universe”, in which people’s mind is nothing. Washi paper was created with the power of purification to wash away attachments and bring a sense of calm.
The shadows cast by the washi on the tatami make unique and soothing shapes.