A Spiritual Corner in the City

Shixi is a house of lifestyle and culture that uses tea as its medium. It had to stage tea-drinking settings for a furniture brand, and also host exhibitions, salons and other events for craftspeople, artists and cultural partners from around the world. E Studio began by thinking about the character of the space, looking, from the visitor's point of view, for the deeper connections between people, space and the act of drinking tea.

Tea and Life

In modern city life we work hard to play an efficient, rigorous, flawless "other self", while the relaxed, spontaneous, pleasure-loving self often has nowhere to go. When the mind keeps too tight a rein on experience, we stop feeling life flourish, and cannot become whole in a world that seems so correct and yet so barren.

As a social occasion and a daily ritual, tea has been part of Chinese memory since ancient times, and the Eastern philosophy of the middle way it carries has answered each era's questions about rules and freedom.

The Eastern Way of Life, Transformed

Drinking tea is not only about a relaxed setting, fine utensils and good leaves, but about returning, as you taste, to a simple experience of life. How can an Eastern way of life exist in a contemporary international city? We did not believe that copying traditional materials, patterns and structures was a good answer. Instead we chose to strip away the symbols and keep the Eastern mood in a modern design language, extending the reach and depth of the Shixi tea space in a city where East and West meet.

If a space were a kind of clay, we wanted Shixi to feel like zisha, the purple clay of Chinese teapots, rich in layers of grit.

Lit in the shop window, the silhouette of someone brewing tea among mountains and water draws the curiosity of passers-by. Inside, a winding route and half-hidden spaces answer the indirect, reserved Eastern character, while guiding guests naturally through seven tea-drinking settings, each with its own theme.

Mortise and Tenon

A curved wall lands boldly in the middle of the space like a stroke of calligraphy in three dimensions. Display stands are wedged straight into the joints of the space, linking the calligraphic strokes scattered around it as partitions, and a seemingly still space begins to release a broad energy.

In Praise of Shadows

A luminous pearl shines only in the dark; a gem loses its charm in full sun. Bright colours are more aggressive, while shadow suits the restraint and calm deep in the Eastern character. Shixi's texture emerges quietly in the stillness of zisha's shifting tones. Objects in shadow feel entirely different from those against a bright background: in subtle shade, people and things stand out more, as if, to exaggerate a little, a whole life were being drawn.

Behind its plain exterior, Shixi's rich interior offers people in the modern city something for the spirit: a branch to rest on.

We cannot escape reality, but we can draw strength from the philosophy of life held in tea. Each time we set out again after mending, or rebuild after breaking, we come away stronger, surer and more at peace.

Client
Shixi

Location
1F, OCT Happy Times, Shenzhen, Guangdong

Area
300 m²

Completion Date
2023.01

Design Firm
E Studio

Lead Designer
Fan, Junjian
Zhou, Xuanzhuo

Design Team
Xu, Meng
Zhang, Jieying

FF&E
Zhou, Jing

Photographer
Yuuuun Studio

Brand Design
Whatever Brand