Exhibitor’s Stories

A room with paper-made walls for a picnic-style tea gathering

The Japanese tea ceremony is an elaborate and culturally significant preparation and presentation of green tea, which can be held both indoors or outdoors. The Saian Tea Ceremony Room, a purpose-built outdoor open-air tea ceremony venue, made of a tonne of recycled washi paper stacked on top of one another and intertwining mulberry branches, was designed by Hashiguchi Architect & Associates. Built in a traditional backyard in Nara, the paper walls, complete with an entrance for the tea ceremony host, are a modern take on traditional materials and building methods. As paper is integral to traditional Japanese architecture, as seen in paper partitions and sliding doors, it is a study of form, traditions, and materials that inform and inspire future innovation.