Tokyo Design Awards Silver Winner

2026 | Student

The Tea Interval: A Desktop Ritual Installation

Entrant Company

Nihon University

Category

Product Design - Lifestyle

Client's Name

Country / Region

China

In an era of hyper-acceleration and information fragmentation, modern individuals, particularly the younger generation, are trapped in a state of high anxiety, losing their connection with the inner self.

The Tea Interval is a desktop ritual installation designed to reconstruct the time-space boundary of daily life. Drawing from traditional Eastern tea philosophy, the system decompresses the tea-making process into a strict 10-minute behavioral timeline. By engaging multiple senses—the olfactory stimulation of tea grinding, the auditory rhythm of candle-heated water dripping, and the visual structure of a minimalist desktop shelf—it creates a "temporary isolation zone" within a limited micro-space.

Crush the tea leaves in a mortar, letting the repetitive motion calm your mind. Transfer to a tea caddy, place into a cup, and begin the peaceful ritual of brewing and waiting.This project shifts the paradigm of tea utensils from traditional functional ware to a psychological modulation tool. It forces a mandatory, slow-paced waiting period, transforming a routine beverage break into a sacred micro-ritual that guides users from external chaos to internal introspection (Niguan).

Credits

Nihon University
YIYANG LUO
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