New shop
2018 — Time for a change
Four years went by and we felt like we outgrew the space; we knew more about our customers, ourselves, what we wanted, and what was important to us. We felt it was time for us to make a change.
It was a scary decision to make but we took a leap of faith, and we found a new space.
April 2018 — Design
We saw the new space as an empty shell, a blank canvas, giving us the freedom to create an ambience that would reflect our values and honour the teas we sourced.
We knew the scope of work for the new space would be much larger than the old shop.
We wanted the space to feel timeless so we kept the design simple yet functional.
We drew things over and over again, and used masking tape on the walls and floors to help us visualize. We didn’t have the software to draw detailed sketches of the furniture so we made rough sketches and built 3D models with cardboard boxes.
May 2018 — Construction
We wanted the interior to be mostly constructed from wood because of its longevity, while allowing each piece of furniture to develop its own unique character and depth after years of use and exposure to the sun.
We were lucky to have met Takao and Hitomi, furniture makers from Japan for over 30 years, who helped us to build all of our wood work.
We put a lot of thought and care into the design and construction of every piece of furniture. We sourced all the raw materials ourselves, down to the plywood used to make our cabinetry. We made our own pu-erh tea stain, and applied it on every single piece of wood used in the store, including the wood used inside our cabinets. We oiled each one by hand.
There is a story behind every decision-making process that went into creating the space you see today, even down to small details like colour matching the electrical faceplate to the tiles..
It took us over one year to design and build the space.
May 2019
Opening of our new shop at 2280 Main St., Vancouver.
