Yugen Tea

Adding the most value to every square meter of space is a given in today’s tough retail and hospitality climate. Oftentimes though, we see hastily assembled pop-ups or unresolved spatial solutions that add little to the customer experience. But then, along comes a project that combines creative thought, clever space planning, and a big dash of aesthetic genius, and then we see how incredible these spaces actually can be.

Yugen Tea Bar was created in a void that will lead downstairs to a future, much larger hospitality venue. “The challenge was how to make this space into something much more than a space of egress, and not to let the access to the lift and large staircase kill the environment of the tea bar,” says Lucienne Hemingway, owner and creative director at Curious By Design, who envisaged and brought Yugen to life. “The concept of the bar was to transport the customer into a quiet space with natural textures and tones used throughout.”

Step inside Yugen, and all pre-conceived notions of a traditional tea house are turned completely upside down, with angular, rock-like structures extending from the ceiling, and dark grey, charcoal and black hues throughout lit with dramatic lighting. All elements are made from highly textural finishes, with the bar and custom-designed tables all made from hardwood reminiscent of the traditional Japanese technique Shou Sugi Ban. The rock forms are created from composite slate crushed panels cut by builders on-site, with no two triangles the same.

When it came to specifying the flooring, Fibonacci provided a wealth of choice. “Terrazzo was always an option as we wanted a natural looking finish for the floor and the stairs. We also required something that looked quite busy, and the detail in the tile handles the wear and mess extremely well,” says Lucienne. “We got stuck on about six different Fibonacci options (there was even a pink one in there at one stage!!) that we mused over for a number of weeks before finally settling on Freckle. Its mixture of colours within the stone perfectly picks up all the elements and colours of the space and, in my mind, reflected the natural stones of the bottom of a creek”.

Fibonacci worked closely with Lucienne to work through her flooring specification for Yugen Tea House and were thrilled with her choice of Freckle. It is a moody, evocative and experiential space that we are so pleased to have assisted with. And as so many of our customers have discovered, Fibonacci’s ground-breaking ‘No Lead Time’ guarantee added another reason to choose our stone. “This was definitely a game changer. This flexibility and access to the product made it an unquestionable choice,” says Lucienne.