WE BUILD 茶室 · CHASHITSU AROUND THE WORLD

What is a CHASHITSU?

A chashitsu is one of the most intentional architectural forms in existence. Refined over five centuries, it is where silence, design, and ritual converge — a space that may appear modest, yet carries the full weight of Japanese aesthetic and spiritual thought.

Every proportion, every material, every degree of light has been calibrated not for beauty alone, but for a particular quality of presence. A stillness that is felt before it is understood. A small room that contains, in its restraint, an infinite world.

Studio Ese designs and builds chashitsu for private residences, hotels, restaurants, and cultural spaces across Europe — every project designed in Japan, in collaboration with our Tokyo-based architectural studio, and constructed to order.

OFferings

Our chashitsu projects take three forms.

garden

standalone teahouse

A standalone structure, set apart from the main building — reached by a roji path through a considered landscape. The most complete expression of the form: its own threshold, its own silence, its own world.

Built for private residences and estates, and for hotels, galleries, and cultural venues where the garden can become part of the architecture itself.

Home

residential conversions or extensions

An existing room, or a new extension, transformed into a chashitsu. The proportions, materials, and joinery are designed from scratch — the result is not a renovation but a new room with its own internal logic, sitting quietly within the fabric of a home.

Suitable for both period and contemporary properties.

COMMERCIAL

THIRD SPACES

For hotels, restaurants, galleries, spas, and cultural venues. A chashitsu as a destination in its own right. A space that slows guests down, sets you apart, and offers something no other interior can.

We work with architects, interior designers, and clients directly.

Projects

These are selected works by our Tokyo-based architectural studio. Each was designed and built in Japan — the tradition we now bring to clients across Europe and beyond.

Matsubaya Saryo 松葉屋茶寮・方舟GALLERY
cafe/tea house

Toukoh-An 東籬庵
Private residence

Chashitsu in Office
teahouse IN a corporate building

Kakyu-An 華久庵
Standalone teahouse

Tempura Arakawa
Restaurant

Hohjo-An 方丈庵
WAREHOUSE GALLERY CONVERSION

Elements

A chashitsu is defined by a set of elements, each with a precise function and a history of its own. Some are structural, some ceremonial, some both. Together they produce the conditions the room is designed to create.

Tokonoma
the alcove

The tokonoma is a recessed alcove that serves as the room's focal point — the place for a single scroll, a flower arrangement, an object chosen for the season. Nothing else. Its emptiness is as considered as what it holds.

床
間

tatami
The floorING

Tatami mats are not simply a flooring material. They are a unit of measurement. The proportions of a chashitsu are determined by the number and arrangement of mats — typically between two and four and a half — giving each room its precise, considered scale.

畳

ROJI
the garden path

The approach to the tea room is not incidental. The roji — a modest path of stepping stones through a garden — is the first act of the architecture. By the time you reach the door, the outside world has already begun to recede.

露
地

Nijiriguchi
the crawling entrance

The entrance to a chashitsu is small by design: approximately 60cm square. Every guest — regardless of rank or status — must lower themselves to enter. It is perhaps the most radical gesture in all of Japanese architecture.

躙
口

Shoji
screens

Shoji screens divide and define space without closing it off entirely. Sliding rather than hinged, they allow the room to be reconfigured — opened to an adjacent space or garden, or drawn closed to hold the interior in its own quiet.

障
子

Ro
THE HEARTH

Set into the tatami floor, the ro is the hearth over which water is brought to boil. In winter it is opened; in summer, a portable brazier takes its place. The shift between the two marks the tea calendar — a rhythm that has structured practice for five centuries.

炉

Mizuya
THE PREPARATION ROOM

Out of sight from the guest, the mizuya is where the host prepares everything before the gathering begins — water, utensils, charcoal, tea. Its concealment is intentional: what the guest encounters in the tea room is the finished world, not the making of it.

水
谷

kigumi
joinery

The shoji screens that filter light into the tea room are part of a broader tradition of Japanese joinery in which wood is worked without nails and fitted with a precision that allows for the natural movement of materials over time. All our joinery is prepared by specialists in Japan.

木
組

Materials

A chashitsu is built from materials chosen for what they do over time, not how they look when new. Nothing in a chashitsu is inert.

Every project begins with the full traditional palette. Where budget or context calls for adaptation, we work with the same principles. The philosophy does not change — only the degree of its expression.

HINOKI

Japanese cypress, fragrant and fine-grained, used in temple construction for over a thousand years. It is the primary structural timber of chashitsu, chosen for its durability, its scent, and the quality of light it holds.

SUGI

Japanese cedar, softer and warmer than hinoki, with a grain that carries the character of the forest it came from. Used for ceilings, wall panels, and detailing where texture and warmth are called for.

CLAY

Traditional clay plaster finishes the walls of a chashitsu. Clay creates a surface that breathes with the seasons, absorbs sound, and marks time in a way that no painted wall can.

WASHI

Shoji screens are laid with washi — handmade Japanese paper that diffuses rather than admits light. The effect is something like frosted glass, but warmer, filling the room evenly and softly. The world beyond the screen is present but held at a distance.

IGUSA GRASS

The woven rush grass surface of tatami, harvested and dried before being stretched over a rice straw core. It compresses slowly underfoot, releases a faint green scent, and grounds the room in something unmistakably natural.

TOKOBASHIRA

The pillar beside the tokonoma alcove is never uniform timber. It is selected for its irregularity — a curve, a knot, a surface left close to the bark. In a room where everything is considered, the tokobashira is where nature is trusted to speak for itself.

PROCESS

The materials, the craftsmen, and the time involved vary by location, budget, and the nature of the brief, but the sequence is the same for each project.

一 Consultation

We begin with a conversation about your space, your intentions, and what you are hoping to create. There are no fixed answers at this stage — only the right questions.

Typically 2–4 weeks

二 Brief and site visit

The site is visited in person. Seeing the light, the proportions, the relationship to the garden or the surrounding building — this is where the design begins in earnest.

Arranged once the project scope is agreed

三 Design

The chashitsu is designed in Japan, in full dialogue with you. Every element — the placement of the tokonoma, the angle of the nijiriguchi, the choice of materials — is considered and drawn before anything is made.

Typically 3–6 months

四　Joinery preparation

Once the design is finalised, the joinery is prepared by specialist workshops in Japan. This is the heart of the craft — timber worked by hand, fitted without nails, built to last for generations.

Typically 2–4 months, overlapping with late design phase

五　Shipping

The joinery and any materials sourced in Japan are shipped to your site. We manage this process in full.

Typically 6–8 weeks

六　Construction and installation

The room is assembled and finished on site. Depending on the project, this is carried out by Japanese craftsmen, by local builders working under Japanese supervision, or a combination of both. Where local materials suit the climate and context, we use them. What does not vary is the standard of the work.

Typically 2–4 months

七　Completion

The room is handed over. What happens inside it is yours.

Begin a conversation

Every project starts with a conversation. There are no fixed packages and no standard solutions — only a brief,
a site, and a set of intentions that we work with from the beginning.

If you are considering a chashitsu — for your home, your garden, or your business — get in touch.

We aim to respond within two working days.

Enquire

WE BUILD 茶室 · CHASHITSU AROUND THE WORLD

What is a CHASHITSU?

Three Offerings

Our chashitsu projects take three forms.

garden
standalone teahouse

Home

residential conversions or extensions

+

COMMERCIAL

THIRD SPACES

Projects

These are selected works by our Tokyo-based architectural studio. Each was designed and built in Japan — the tradition we now bring to clients across Europe and beyond.

Matsubaya Saryo 松葉屋茶寮・方舟GALLERY
cafe/tea house

Toukoh-An 東籬庵
Private residence

Chashitsu in Office
teahouse IN a corporate building

Kakyu-An 華久庵
Standalone teahouse

Tempura Arakawa
Restaurant

Hohjo-An 方丈庵
WAREHOUSE GALLERY CONVERSION

ELEMENTS of a Chashitsu

Tokonoma
the alcove

The tokonoma is a recessed alcove that serves as the room's focal point — the place for a single scroll, a flower arrangement, an object chosen for the season. Nothing else. Its emptiness is as considered as what it holds.

床
間

tatami
The floorING

Tatami mats are not simply a flooring material. They are a unit of measurement. The proportions of a chashitsu are determined by the number and arrangement of mats — typically between two and four and a half — giving each room its precise, considered scale.

畳

ROJI
the garden path

The approach to the tea room is not incidental. The roji — a modest path of stepping stones through a garden — is the first act of the architecture. By the time you reach the door, the outside world has already begun to recede.

露
地

Nijiriguchi
the crawling entrance

The entrance to a chashitsu is small by design: approximately 60cm square. Every guest — regardless of rank or status — must lower themselves to enter. It is perhaps the most radical gesture in all of Japanese architecture.

躙
口

Shoji
screens

Shoji screens divide and define space without closing it off entirely. Sliding rather than hinged, they allow the room to be reconfigured — opened to an adjacent space or garden, or drawn closed to hold the interior in its own quiet.

障
子

Ro
THE HEARTH

Set into the tatami floor, the ro is the hearth over which water is brought to boil. In winter it is opened; in summer, a portable brazier takes its place. The shift between the two marks the tea calendar — a rhythm that has structured practice for five centuries.

炉

Mizuya
THE PREPARATION ROOM

Out of sight from the guest, the mizuya is where the host prepares everything before the gathering begins — water, utensils, charcoal, tea. Its concealment is intentional: what the guest encounters in the tea room is the finished world, not the making of it.

水
谷

kigumi
joinery

The shoji screens that filter light into the tea room are part of a broader tradition of Japanese joinery in which wood is worked without nails and fitted with a precision that allows for the natural movement of materials over time. All our joinery is prepared by specialists in Japan.

木
組

Materials

A chashitsu is built from materials chosen for what they do over time, not how they look when new. Nothing in a chashitsu is inert.

IGUSA GRASS

The woven rush grass surface of tatami, harvested and dried before being stretched over a rice straw core. It compresses slowly underfoot, releases a faint green scent, and grounds the room in something unmistakably natural.

CLAY

Traditional clay plaster finishes the walls of a chashitsu. Clay creates a surface that breathes with the seasons, absorbs sound, and marks time in a way that no painted wall can.

WASHI

Shoji screens are laid with washi — handmade Japanese paper that diffuses rather than admits light. The effect is something like frosted glass, but warmer, filling the room evenly and softly. The world beyond the screen is present but held at a distance.

SUGI

Japanese cedar, softer and warmer than hinoki, with a grain that carries the character of the forest it came from. Used for ceilings, wall panels, and detailing where texture and warmth are called for.

HINOKI

Japanese cypress, fragrant and fine-grained, used in temple construction for over a thousand years. It is the primary structural timber of chashitsu, chosen for its durability, its scent, and the quality of light it holds.

TOKOBASHIRA

The pillar beside the tokonoma alcove is never uniform timber. It is selected for its irregularity — a curve, a knot, a surface left close to the bark. In a room where everything is considered, the tokobashira is where nature is trusted to speak for itself.

PROCESS

The materials, the craftsmen, and the time involved vary by location, budget, and the nature of the brief, but the sequence is the same for each project.

一 Consultation

We begin with a conversation about your space, your intentions, and what you are hoping to create. There are no fixed answers at this stage — only the right questions.

Typically 2–4 weeks

二 Brief and site visit

The site is visited in person. Seeing the light, the proportions, the relationship to the garden or the surrounding building — this is where the design begins in earnest.

Arranged once the project scope is agreed

三 Design

The chashitsu is designed in Japan, in full dialogue with you. Every element — the placement of the tokonoma, the angle of the nijiriguchi, the choice of materials — is considered and drawn before anything is made.

Typically 3–6 months

四　Joinery preparation

Once the design is finalised, the joinery is prepared by specialist workshops in Japan. This is the heart of the craft — timber worked by hand, fitted without nails, built to last for generations.

Typically 2–4 months, overlapping with late design phase

五　Shipping

The joinery and any materials sourced in Japan are shipped to your site. We manage this process in full.

Typically 6–8 weeks

六　Construction and installation

The room is assembled and finished on site. Depending on the project, this is carried out by Japanese craftsmen, by local builders working under Japanese supervision, or a combination of both. Where local materials suit the climate and context, we use them. What does not vary is the standard of the work.

Typically 2–4 months

七　Completion

The room is handed over. What happens inside it is yours.

Begin a conversation

Enquire

Hohjo-An 方丈庵

WAREHOUSE GALLERY CONVERSION

A compact chashitsu created within a vacant warehouse belonging to a gallery owner in Shinagawa.

The tea room is built around a three-tatami Kyoma layout with a corner hearth. A doma — a traditional compacted earth floor area — provides an informal seating space at a lower level. The mizuya was formed by removing a wall connecting the tea room to the existing kitchen, adapting it to a standing-height preparation area. Outside the tea room, a waiting area with a tsukubai is arranged in the open space of the warehouse.

Fittings and furnishings preserved from the owner's former home were reused throughout, giving a newly built space the atmosphere of one that has been lived in for years.

LOCATION: Shinagawa, Tokyo
USE: Commercial

Hohjo-An 方丈庵

WAREHOUSE GALLERY CONVERSION

A compact chashitsu created within a vacant warehouse belonging to a gallery owner in Shinagawa.

The tea room is built around a three-tatami Kyoma layout with a corner hearth. A doma — a traditional compacted earth floor area — provides an informal seating space at a lower level. The mizuya was formed by removing a wall connecting the tea room to the existing kitchen, adapting it to a standing-height preparation area. Outside the tea room, a waiting area with a tsukubai is arranged in the open space of the warehouse.

Fittings and furnishings preserved from the owner's former home were reused throughout, giving a newly built space the atmosphere of one that has been lived in for years.

LOCATION: Shinagawa, Tokyo
USE: Commercial

Toukoh-An 東籬庵

Private residence with integrated chashitsu

A full residential project in a quiet Meguro neighbourhood, designed around a formal chashitsu at its centre.

The sequence begins at the entrance: a two-tatami ante-room leads through a tatami corridor alongside an internal tea garden, arriving at the main tea room hall of eight tatami mats — one of the larger domestic chashitsu in the practice's portfolio. The private residence — living, dining, kitchen, and upper-floor bedrooms and bathrooms — is connected across the corridor, keeping the tea and living spaces distinct without separating them entirely.

The brief was to build a house in which a full chashitsu tradition could be practised, without sacrificing the requirements of a contemporary home.

LOCATION: Meguro, Tokyo
USE: Private
TOTAL FLOOR AREA: 141.58㎡

Toukoh-An 東籬庵

Private residence with integrated chashitsu

A full residential project in a quiet Meguro neighbourhood, designed around a formal chashitsu at its centre.

The sequence begins at the entrance: a two-tatami ante-room leads through a tatami corridor alongside an internal tea garden, arriving at the main tea room hall of eight tatami mats — one of the larger domestic chashitsu in the practice's portfolio. The private residence — living, dining, kitchen, and upper-floor bedrooms and bathrooms — is connected across the corridor, keeping the tea and living spaces distinct without separating them entirely.

The brief was to build a house in which a full chashitsu tradition could be practised, without sacrificing the requirements of a contemporary home.

LOCATION: Meguro, Tokyo
USE: Private
TOTAL FLOOR AREA: 141.58㎡

Kakyu-An 華久庵

Standalone teahouse

A three-tatami chashitsu with a full mizuya, designed as a standalone structure set apart from the main residence.

The layout is considered for flexibility: removing the sliding partitions between the tea room and mizuya opens a continuous space of approximately seven tatami mats, large enough for gatherings beyond the tea ceremony itself. The shoji screens open fully to the garden, allowing the tea room and the exterior to be used as one.

Construction combines hand-selected timber, chosen and worked by hand in the traditional manner, with modern methods of ensuring a solid structural foundation.

The garden was developed in close collaboration with a landscape architect, reusing the original stones, moss, and plum trees from the site to create a space that carries the history of what was already there

LOCATION: Minato-ku, Tokyo
USE: Private
TOTAL FLOOR AREA: 20.77㎡

Kakyu-An 華久庵

Standalone teahouse

A three-tatami chashitsu with a full mizuya, designed as a standalone structure set apart from the main residence.

The layout is considered for flexibility: removing the sliding partitions between the tea room and mizuya opens a continuous space of approximately seven tatami mats, large enough for gatherings beyond the tea ceremony itself. The shoji screens open fully to the garden, allowing the tea room and the exterior to be used as one.

Construction combines hand-selected timber, chosen and worked by hand in the traditional manner, with modern methods of ensuring a solid structural foundation.

The garden was developed in close collaboration with a landscape architect, reusing the original stones, moss, and plum trees from the site to create a space that carries the history of what was already there

LOCATION: Minato-ku, Tokyo
USE: Private
TOTAL FLOOR AREA: 20.77㎡

Chashitsu in Office

teahouse IN a corporate building

A chashitsu and meeting room built within a single floor of a high-rise office building — two interconnected spaces sharing a traditional thatched roof.

The tea room makes no concession to its setting. Despite being many floors above street level, the space achieves the atmosphere of a full traditional chashitsu — an unlikely but complete world within the fabric of a contemporary office building. The thatched roof, shared across both spaces, is the architectural gesture that makes this possible.

The project was conceived as a response to shifting ideas about how and where work happens — a space that brings a different quality of attention to the working day.

Chashitsu in Office

teahouse IN a corporate building

A chashitsu and meeting room built within a single floor of a high-rise office building — two interconnected spaces sharing a traditional thatched roof.

The project was conceived as a response to shifting ideas about how and where work happens — a space that brings a different quality of attention to the working day.

Tempura Arakawa
天ぷらあら川

Restaurant

Arakawa is a tempura restaurant with 45 years of history in Kita-ku, Tokyo. When the time came to move to a new space in Akabane, the owners wanted to carry that history with them.

The interior was built by the same craftsmen who construct chashitsu. Sugi pillars, solid oak counters, and a raised oval ceiling in gold leaf draw on the Edo-period aesthetic of the traditional Japanese room. Latticed rafters, sliding doors, and a tsukubai mark the entrance. Moveable partitions allow the dining room to be reconfigured by party size, with a private tatami room at the rear.

Materials from the original restaurant — floor pillars, garden stones, the signboard — were retained and reintegrated throughout.

LOCATION: Akabane, Tokyo
USE: Commercial

Tempura Arakawa
天ぷらあら川

Restaurant

Arakawa is a tempura restaurant with 45 years of history in Kita-ku, Tokyo. When the time came to move to a new space in Akabane, the owners wanted to carry that history with them.

Materials from the original restaurant — floor pillars, garden stones, the signboard — were retained and reintegrated throughout.

LOCATION: Akabane, Tokyo
USE: Commercial

Matsubaya Saryo 松葉屋茶寮・方舟GALLERY

cafe/tea house

A single-tatami chashitsu built within a bonsai tea house and gallery, designed for one purpose: to sit with a bowl of matcha and the company of an ancient, magnificent bonsai.

The room contains everything a chashitsu requires, and nothing more. A tokonoma alcove, a tea shelf, a tatami seat and bench seating are arranged within a compact but complete space. The entrance is a sliding door designed in the manner of a nijiriguchi. The room is soundproofed to invite stillness.

LOCATION: Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo
USE: Commercial

Matsubaya Saryo 松葉屋茶寮・方舟GALLERY

cafe/tea house

A single-tatami chashitsu built within a bonsai tea house and gallery, designed for one purpose: to sit with a bowl of matcha and the company of an ancient, magnificent bonsai.

LOCATION: Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo
USE: Commercial

commercial
third space

For hotels, restaurants, galleries, spas, and cultural venues — a chashitsu as a destination in its own right. A space that slows guests down, sets you apart, and offers something no other interior can: a room that has been finetuned over centuries specifically to produce a particular quality of presence.

We work with architects, interior designers, and clients directly.

commercial
third space

For hotels, restaurants, galleries, spas, and cultural venues — a chashitsu as a destination in its own right. A space that slows guests down, sets you apart, and offers something no other interior can: a room that has been finetuned over centuries specifically to produce a particular quality of presence.

We work with architects, interior designers, and clients directly.

Home
residential conversions or extensions

An existing room, or a new extension, transformed into a chashitsu. The proportions, materials, and joinery are designed from scratch — the result is not a renovation but a new room with its own internal logic, sitting quietly within the fabric of a home.

Suitable for both period and contemporary properties.

Home
residential conversions or extensions

An existing room, or a new extension, transformed into a chashitsu. The proportions, materials, and joinery are designed from scratch — the result is not a renovation but a new room with its own internal logic, sitting quietly within the fabric of a home.

Suitable for both period and contemporary properties.

garden
standalone teahouse

A standalone structure, set apart from the main building — reached by a roji path through a considered landscape. The most complete expression of the form: its own threshold, its own silence, its own world. Built for private residences and estates where the garden can become part of the architecture itself.

Every project is designed in Japan and constructed to order.

garden
standalone teahouse

A standalone structure, set apart from the main building — reached by a roji path through a considered landscape. The most complete expression of the form: its own threshold, its own silence, its own world. Built for private residences and estates where the garden can become part of the architecture itself.

Every project is designed in Japan and constructed to order.

We are a creative studio and consultancy based between London and Tokyo, with our feet in the Mediterranean Sea.

Reach us here:

kontacto@esestudioese.com

We are a creative studio and consultancy based between London and Tokyo, with our feet in the Mediterranean Sea.

Reach us here:

kontacto@esestudioese.com

WE BUILD 茶室 · CHASHITSU AROUND THE WORLD

What is a CHASHITSU?

OFferings

garden

standalone teahouse

Home

residential conversions or extensions

COMMERCIAL

THIRD SPACES

For hotels, restaurants, galleries, spas, and cultural venues. A chashitsu as a destination in its own right. A space that slows guests down, sets you apart, and offers something no other interior can.We work with architects, interior designers, and clients directly.

Projects

Matsubaya Saryo 松葉屋茶寮・方舟GALLERYcafe/tea house

Toukoh-An 東籬庵Private residence

Chashitsu in Officeteahouse IN a corporate building

Kakyu-An 華久庵Standalone teahouse

Tempura ArakawaRestaurant

Hohjo-An 方丈庵WAREHOUSE GALLERY CONVERSION

Elements

Tokonomathe alcove

The tokonoma is a recessed alcove that serves as the room's focal point — the place for a single scroll, a flower arrangement, an object chosen for the season. Nothing else. Its emptiness is as considered as what it holds.

床間

tatamiThe floorING

Tatami mats are not simply a flooring material. They are a unit of measurement. The proportions of a chashitsu are determined by the number and arrangement of mats — typically between two and four and a half — giving each room its precise, considered scale.

畳

ROJIthe garden path

The approach to the tea room is not incidental. The roji — a modest path of stepping stones through a garden — is the first act of the architecture. By the time you reach the door, the outside world has already begun to recede.

露地

Nijiriguchithe crawling entrance

The entrance to a chashitsu is small by design: approximately 60cm square. Every guest — regardless of rank or status — must lower themselves to enter. It is perhaps the most radical gesture in all of Japanese architecture.

躙口

Shojiscreens

Shoji screens divide and define space without closing it off entirely. Sliding rather than hinged, they allow the room to be reconfigured — opened to an adjacent space or garden, or drawn closed to hold the interior in its own quiet.

障子

RoTHE HEARTH

Set into the tatami floor, the ro is the hearth over which water is brought to boil. In winter it is opened; in summer, a portable brazier takes its place. The shift between the two marks the tea calendar — a rhythm that has structured practice for five centuries.

炉

MizuyaTHE PREPARATION ROOM

Out of sight from the guest, the mizuya is where the host prepares everything before the gathering begins — water, utensils, charcoal, tea. Its concealment is intentional: what the guest encounters in the tea room is the finished world, not the making of it.

水谷

kigumijoinery

The shoji screens that filter light into the tea room are part of a broader tradition of Japanese joinery in which wood is worked without nails and fitted with a precision that allows for the natural movement of materials over time. All our joinery is prepared by specialists in Japan.

木組

Materials

HINOKIJapanese cypress, fragrant and fine-grained, used in temple construction for over a thousand years. It is the primary structural timber of chashitsu, chosen for its durability, its scent, and the quality of light it holds.

SUGIJapanese cedar, softer and warmer than hinoki, with a grain that carries the character of the forest it came from. Used for ceilings, wall panels, and detailing where texture and warmth are called for.

CLAYTraditional clay plaster finishes the walls of a chashitsu. Clay creates a surface that breathes with the seasons, absorbs sound, and marks time in a way that no painted wall can.

WASHIShoji screens are laid with washi — handmade Japanese paper that diffuses rather than admits light. The effect is something like frosted glass, but warmer, filling the room evenly and softly. The world beyond the screen is present but held at a distance.

IGUSA GRASSThe woven rush grass surface of tatami, harvested and dried before being stretched over a rice straw core. It compresses slowly underfoot, releases a faint green scent, and grounds the room in something unmistakably natural.

TOKOBASHIRAThe pillar beside the tokonoma alcove is never uniform timber. It is selected for its irregularity — a curve, a knot, a surface left close to the bark. In a room where everything is considered, the tokobashira is where nature is trusted to speak for itself.

PROCESS

一 Consultation

We begin with a conversation about your space, your intentions, and what you are hoping to create. There are no fixed answers at this stage — only the right questions.Typically 2–4 weeks

二 Brief and site visit

The site is visited in person. Seeing the light, the proportions, the relationship to the garden or the surrounding building — this is where the design begins in earnest.Arranged once the project scope is agreed

三 Design

The chashitsu is designed in Japan, in full dialogue with you. Every element — the placement of the tokonoma, the angle of the nijiriguchi, the choice of materials — is considered and drawn before anything is made.Typically 3–6 months

四 Joinery preparation

Once the design is finalised, the joinery is prepared by specialist workshops in Japan. This is the heart of the craft — timber worked by hand, fitted without nails, built to last for generations.Typically 2–4 months, overlapping with late design phase

五 Shipping

The joinery and any materials sourced in Japan are shipped to your site. We manage this process in full.Typically 6–8 weeks

六 Construction and installation

七 Completion

The room is handed over. What happens inside it is yours.

Begin a conversation

Enquire

WE BUILD 茶室 · CHASHITSU AROUND THE WORLD

What is a CHASHITSU?

Three Offerings

gardenstandalone teahouse

Home

residential conversions or extensions

+

COMMERCIAL

THIRD SPACES

Projects

Matsubaya Saryo 松葉屋茶寮・方舟GALLERYcafe/tea house

Toukoh-An 東籬庵Private residence

Chashitsu in Officeteahouse IN a corporate building

Kakyu-An 華久庵Standalone teahouse

Tempura ArakawaRestaurant

For hotels, restaurants, galleries, spas, and cultural venues. A chashitsu as a destination in its own right. A space that slows guests down, sets you apart, and offers something no other interior can.

We work with architects, interior designers, and clients directly.

Matsubaya Saryo 松葉屋茶寮・方舟GALLERY
cafe/tea house

Toukoh-An 東籬庵
Private residence

Chashitsu in Office
teahouse IN a corporate building

Kakyu-An 華久庵
Standalone teahouse

Tempura Arakawa
Restaurant

Hohjo-An 方丈庵
WAREHOUSE GALLERY CONVERSION

Tokonoma
the alcove

床
間

tatami
The floorING

ROJI
the garden path

露
地

Nijiriguchi
the crawling entrance

躙
口

Shoji
screens

障
子

Ro
THE HEARTH

Mizuya
THE PREPARATION ROOM

水
谷

kigumi
joinery

木
組

HINOKI

Japanese cypress, fragrant and fine-grained, used in temple construction for over a thousand years. It is the primary structural timber of chashitsu, chosen for its durability, its scent, and the quality of light it holds.

SUGI

Japanese cedar, softer and warmer than hinoki, with a grain that carries the character of the forest it came from. Used for ceilings, wall panels, and detailing where texture and warmth are called for.

CLAY

Traditional clay plaster finishes the walls of a chashitsu. Clay creates a surface that breathes with the seasons, absorbs sound, and marks time in a way that no painted wall can.

WASHI

Shoji screens are laid with washi — handmade Japanese paper that diffuses rather than admits light. The effect is something like frosted glass, but warmer, filling the room evenly and softly. The world beyond the screen is present but held at a distance.

IGUSA GRASS

The woven rush grass surface of tatami, harvested and dried before being stretched over a rice straw core. It compresses slowly underfoot, releases a faint green scent, and grounds the room in something unmistakably natural.

TOKOBASHIRA

The pillar beside the tokonoma alcove is never uniform timber. It is selected for its irregularity — a curve, a knot, a surface left close to the bark. In a room where everything is considered, the tokobashira is where nature is trusted to speak for itself.

We begin with a conversation about your space, your intentions, and what you are hoping to create. There are no fixed answers at this stage — only the right questions.

Typically 2–4 weeks

The site is visited in person. Seeing the light, the proportions, the relationship to the garden or the surrounding building — this is where the design begins in earnest.

Arranged once the project scope is agreed

The chashitsu is designed in Japan, in full dialogue with you. Every element — the placement of the tokonoma, the angle of the nijiriguchi, the choice of materials — is considered and drawn before anything is made.

Typically 3–6 months

四　Joinery preparation

Once the design is finalised, the joinery is prepared by specialist workshops in Japan. This is the heart of the craft — timber worked by hand, fitted without nails, built to last for generations.

Typically 2–4 months, overlapping with late design phase

五　Shipping

The joinery and any materials sourced in Japan are shipped to your site. We manage this process in full.

Typically 6–8 weeks

六　Construction and installation

七　Completion

garden
standalone teahouse

Matsubaya Saryo 松葉屋茶寮・方舟GALLERY
cafe/tea house

Toukoh-An 東籬庵
Private residence

Chashitsu in Office
teahouse IN a corporate building

Kakyu-An 華久庵
Standalone teahouse

Tempura Arakawa
Restaurant

Hohjo-An 方丈庵
WAREHOUSE GALLERY CONVERSION

Tokonoma
the alcove

床
間

tatami
The floorING

ROJI
the garden path

露
地

Nijiriguchi
the crawling entrance

躙
口

Shoji
screens

障
子

Ro
THE HEARTH

Mizuya
THE PREPARATION ROOM

水
谷

kigumi
joinery

木
組

IGUSA GRASS

The woven rush grass surface of tatami, harvested and dried before being stretched over a rice straw core. It compresses slowly underfoot, releases a faint green scent, and grounds the room in something unmistakably natural.

CLAY

Traditional clay plaster finishes the walls of a chashitsu. Clay creates a surface that breathes with the seasons, absorbs sound, and marks time in a way that no painted wall can.

WASHI

Shoji screens are laid with washi — handmade Japanese paper that diffuses rather than admits light. The effect is something like frosted glass, but warmer, filling the room evenly and softly. The world beyond the screen is present but held at a distance.

SUGI

Japanese cedar, softer and warmer than hinoki, with a grain that carries the character of the forest it came from. Used for ceilings, wall panels, and detailing where texture and warmth are called for.

HINOKI

Japanese cypress, fragrant and fine-grained, used in temple construction for over a thousand years. It is the primary structural timber of chashitsu, chosen for its durability, its scent, and the quality of light it holds.

TOKOBASHIRA

The pillar beside the tokonoma alcove is never uniform timber. It is selected for its irregularity — a curve, a knot, a surface left close to the bark. In a room where everything is considered, the tokobashira is where nature is trusted to speak for itself.

We begin with a conversation about your space, your intentions, and what you are hoping to create. There are no fixed answers at this stage — only the right questions.

Typically 2–4 weeks

The site is visited in person. Seeing the light, the proportions, the relationship to the garden or the surrounding building — this is where the design begins in earnest.

Arranged once the project scope is agreed

The chashitsu is designed in Japan, in full dialogue with you. Every element — the placement of the tokonoma, the angle of the nijiriguchi, the choice of materials — is considered and drawn before anything is made.

Typically 3–6 months

四　Joinery preparation

Once the design is finalised, the joinery is prepared by specialist workshops in Japan. This is the heart of the craft — timber worked by hand, fitted without nails, built to last for generations.

Typically 2–4 months, overlapping with late design phase

五　Shipping

The joinery and any materials sourced in Japan are shipped to your site. We manage this process in full.

Typically 6–8 weeks

六　Construction and installation

七　Completion

LOCATION: Shinagawa, Tokyo
USE: Commercial

LOCATION: Shinagawa, Tokyo
USE: Commercial