Tea house in Seattle

July 28, 2010
Recycled bottles pop up again, and this time they're a teahouse
By LYNN PORTER
Journal Staff Reporter

Architect Christopher Ezzell will spend next week in Occidental Park in a teahouse he fashioned from recycled plastic bottles.

The structure, created with the help of the Seattle branch of the Urasenke Foundation and others, will be made of 800 two-liter plastic bottles. Half of the bottles were previously used for a temporary art installation titled “waste not” in Pioneer Square's Nord Alley.

The cut-up bottles will be tied together with fishing line to make walls. The walls will hang off an aluminum hoop structure supported by aluminum poles, almost like a shower curtain.

“But hopefully it's going to look nicer than a shower curtain,” Ezzell said. The roof will be of Mylar previously used as a sail. Despite the effort at sustainability, some of the materials won't be green. “We couldn't be 100 percent LEED-certified,” quipped Ezzell, who heads a Vashon Island design firm called e workshop.

The project is equal parts architecture and performance installation. The idea is to build a three-dimensional structure where visitors can experience the intimate tea ceremony in which host and guest celebrate together.

“The experiment here is ‘can we have this experience in a busy urban setting and enjoy the values of (it)?'” said Ezzell, who is a student of tea at Urasenke. Inside the teahouse will be a platform made of reused cedar and cardboard, a flower arrangement and poem card that speaks to being in the moment. Ezzell and foundation members will demonstrate the tea ceremony Aug. 2 through Aug. 7, although the structure will be up through Aug. 8.

The teahouse is part of artSparks 2010, a program of King County's 4Culture and the city. The installations and performances — from street theater to temporary sculpture to music — will run through October in Occidental Park. The series began June 3 with “Build Here” by Room for Assembly, an artist collective that experiments with architecture.

Ezzell, who has a bachelor's in architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design, practiced architecture in New York City for 15 years before moving to Seattle. In 2004 he founded e workshop. The firm's work includes residential projects, Long Provincial restaurant and sidewalk cafe in downtown Seattle, the butter London shop at Sea-Tac, and the plaza and pedestal for the Alki Statue of Liberty in collaboration with Cast Architecture.

Copyright 2010 Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce

Charcoal heat vs. Electric Heat

There are pros and cons about using an electric burner while making tea. It's nice not having to worry about flying embers setting the tea room on fire, spilt water extinguishing your coals or carbon monoxide poisoning. It may be faster to adjust the temperature of the water with a twist of a nob. But in my humble opinion – in the age of the electric burner – tea practitioners are losing something unique to the experience of chado.

I say this because yesterday during class I made tea using live charcoal for the first time. I had no idea how different it was! The sound and behavior of the water in the kama is completely different. You have to be more attuned to the singing, like the particular pitch of the kama when the fire is dying down. This signals the guests that the chaji is almost completed. It's too bad it can be difficult to obtain and use charcoal outside of Japan. I think it really adds something to the overall aesthetic of the way of tea.

What differences have you observed in regards to charcoal heat vs. electric heat?

Donation received

I would like to take the time to publicly acknowledge a donation to the blog I received last month.

Thank you Robert for your kind donation to help keep this blog going.

If you would like to make your own donation, please use the Paypal button in the left column.  It will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all for reading,

Margie

Edited:  I'd like to acknowledge and thank Katie for her generous donation to the blog as well.  It is so good to know that people are reading and appreciate what I post.  Thank you.

Margie

Summer gomei

Summer is hot, so choosing gomei for your chashaku at class should make the guests feel cool.

Here are a few suggestions:

shimizu-- pure flowing water
koke shimizu - moss by the stream
natsugasumi - summer mist
kunpu - fragrant breeze
shigure -sudden shower
himuro - ice store room
suzu kaze - cool breeze
sei ryu - pure flow
haku un - white clouds
taki -waterfall
sei fu- pure breeze
ko un -floating clouds
niji -rainbow
ukiha - floating lotus leaves
yugao - moon flower or white gourd flower
hotaru - firefly
tombo - dtragonfly
kawa semi - kingfisher
semi shigure - cicada whose call sounds like falling rain

Please add your suggestions in the comments.  I'll be returning from Hawaii and live blog posts on the 24th.

Issoan summer intensive starts Monday July 26.  Contact me for details.

Zen cha ichimi

Zen and tea are one taste.  This is the philosphy that though Zen and the Way of Tea are different activities, the mental attitude and approach that constitute their basic nature are the same.  In the Zencharoku (Zen Tea Record) published in 1715, is says,


"The spirit of Tea is, namely, the spirit of Zen.  Accordingly, the spirit of Tea does not exist without the spirit of Zen.  One will not understand the taste of Tea without understanding the taste of Zen."


In tea lessons it is sometimes hard to grasp the aspects of Zen in Chado.  Gradually one learns things about breathing, for example, that are Zen reflected in Tea.  By studying Chado, students are studying Zen, though not in a formal way.   Learning to read scrolls and contemplating the meaning, sitting quietly waiting for sensei, and cleaning are other ways of absorbing Zen.

What other aspects of Chado do you see that reflect Zen?