A New Space, Part V: A Tea Bar Materializes (kind of)

This week, a few photos of the progress on our studio and herb tea bar. We stick with the theme of using all of this pallet wood, but this time, it gets more vertical.

The photos above show an idea in some temporary moment, a space existing in that liminal moment between idea being in our minds, and an idea being realized. Nothing here is yet nailed together permanently.

The process lately is, we have a rough concept of what needs to happen. We look at the pallet wood and bits and pieces of old things from the previous space. I might draw something. Then pieces move around the space to see if it will work.

In a way, we are “mocking up” what our idea would be like spatially. We use whatever is lying around, stack things here, prop up things there, produce temporary structures that allow us to “feel” what a particular arrangement would be like in real life. We do this because so many times a drawing and measurements turn out to feel way different than they looked on paper.

And so Suhee sits in a chair where here little office corner is, and we contemplate the height of the hanji paper screen. Where does the sun come in? Can she see the forested mountains? What about the trash bins across the street?

This is the fun part. Kind of like making a play fort, but with a lot of slow attention to detail. Feeling it out comes first, then measurements come later.

Much of the pieces of our mockup are going to stay. The entire pallet turned on its side to form the front of the bar? Easy and nice looking. Definitely staying. Other parts will be replaced in the coming weeks, by better solutions. Things that breathe. Things that feel comfortable. Things that allow light to be filtered into the space in certain ways.

Light, and the view of the mountain are especially great assets of this little space. I hope to keep them in mind as we continue.

Thinking about your own creative space, your studio, or a special corner of your home … what elements do you think about that make it yours? In other words, how does that space inspire and reflect your needs as a creative being?

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Thanks for reading this week. In other areas of work, I am preparing for The Nature of Cities Festival 2024, which will take place this year in two segments, virtually in April, and in Berlin this June.

This event is like no other. Artists, scientists, musicians, urban planners, performers, architects — you know, all the sorts of people you would not expect to be together, yet there we are, being together, learning, having a ball, and working towards cities that are better for nature and all people. This year’s theme is action and as usual, I join with the amazing Carmen Bouyer to co-direct the arts programming. It will be radical.

If you are not hip to it, I gather you would probably enjoy being so. Maybe see you there?

Or if not, then how about we just see you next week here at The Possible City. In any case, keep telling your friends about this space and sharing it. We have over 300 of you wonderful people here getting this email now. That’s nice to know. Stay well, friends.