Oriental Teahouse reinterprets the traditional Chinese tea ceremony: calm, muted, moody throughout. An understated, honest approach to materiality and ambience holds the calmness of the traditional ceremony in a simple architectural frame, where the detail is held entirely in the joinery. Ritual leads the room with quiet authority, allowing the rhythm of the steady, patient brewing, serving and considered conversation to carry a contemporary register without ever sacrificing the deeply held depth of its source.

Photography by Shannon McGrath