Around 2024, while developing ideas for a series of connecting events within WEDOX – an architectural exhibition marking the 10th anniversary of the first WEDO exhibition held in Vietnam (2014-2024), I began thinking about organizing a tea gathering inspired by the spirit of the Japanese tea ceremony. The idea was to place it inside a Vietnamese architectural space, designed by Vietnamese architects, with the participation of a Japanese brand operating in Vietnam, in this case, MUJI Vietnam.
I reached out to Abe Hanna of Yohaku and to MUJI Vietnam, and received agreement from both. However, the idea could not be fully realised at the time, as the context of the exhibition venue later changed. In the end, only Yohaku was able to take part in the programme.
It was not until 2026, when the exhibition “Gió Đông” was organised in Hanoi, that this idea finally came to life in a way that closely followed my original vision. Yohaku will practise the Japanese tea ceremony within the setting of an Ikebana exhibition, with exhibition design contributed by Toob Studio at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum. MUJI Vietnam joins the project by providing its products for Abe Hanna to transform into tea utensils and objects used to compose a tea setting.
Through this gesture, the spirit of the Japanese tea ceremony is approached from a fresh perspective, within an exhibition dedicated to traditional Japanese culture in Hanoi.
It took nearly two years for this idea to take shape. Along the way, it has given me many thoughts about the interwoven connections between cultures, contexts and people who were once strangers to one another.
March 2026
Photography by Trieu Chien