A Poetic Tea Room in Taipei Designed By Homework Studio
Homework Studio of Taipei, Taiwan, creates interiors that evoke intriguing, hard-to-pinpoint earlier eras: see, for instance, the Homework Photo Studio and A Childhood Apartment Updated. Wolf Tea’s new location in Taipei’s historic Dadaocheng district is another standout. Located on the ground floor of a tiled, multi-story building that only dates to the 1970s, the salon has an appropriately soothing lost-in-time vibe.
The project is the work of Homework founder Kuan Chun Cheng (aka Marko Jan) and staff designer Huang Zhongwei in collaboration with Wolf Tea owners, David Yang and Arwen Hsiao. The Yangs describe the results as “minimalist but infinite, marrying the richness and elegance of teas into the details.” We’re inspired to borrow many of these details for our own homes.
Photography courtesy of Homework Studio (@homeworkdesign_) unless noted.
Above: Wolf Tea specializes in small batch, single-origin Taiwanese teas. To open the store to the street and fill the interior with light, the designers introduced the arched windows and bifold doors to the long-vacant space.
Above: The building’s original green tiles seem fitting for a tea salon.
Above: “We wanted the intervention to sit naturally within the historic streetscape—contemporary, but not visually disruptive,” says Marko Jan.
Above: Wolf Tea owners David and Arwen note on their website that “Taiwan’s mountainous landscape houses the most diverse and rarest teas in the world and a profound tea culture.” They showcase “the purest and most impressive leaves” and love spotlighting it with antique furniture and lighting. Photograph courtesy of Wolf Tea.
Above: Arwen and David selected a vintage weathered counter for the center of the space. The walls were restored and left atmospheric; the flooring is the preserved original terrazzo “reminiscent of light and heavy tea roasts,” says Marko. The wall cabinet is a French antique.
Above: Arwen, who is the brands design director, purchased translucent cotton at the nearby Yongle Market and had it stitched into a pojagi, the curtain that divides the shop from the office.
Above: Arwen grew up in Alishan, one of Taiwan’s most celebrated tea regions, and is the one who sources their offerings. The covered bowls, known as gaiwan, she notes are the perfect wares for brewing and sipping whole leaf teas. Theirs depicts a smiling wolf surfing on a tea leaf. Photograph courtesy of Wolf Tea.
Above: Under a custom black steel window, Homework built a tea making area: “a functional working station that feels ceremonial and appropriate to the tea-making ritual,” says Marko. Photograph courtesy of Wolf Tea.
Above: Arwen and David came up with the “brass-detailed tea trolley concept: each of our stores has its own version.”
Above: Flower-shaped teacups and a fluted teapot. Photograph courtesy of Wolf Tea.
Above: Wolf Tea has two locations in Taipei and one in Kyoto. Some of its teas and wares, including the Kungfu Gaiwan Tea Set, are available online. This shop is at 106 Liangzhou Street in Taipei’s Dadaocheng district.
Another Homework tea room: A Taipei Tea House Built from “Sentimental Objects”
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