My favorite answer to - What is Art? - is merging of uncommon elements in a new and meaningful way. The new part was usually easy. Meaningful was more difficult and risky. But I was starting to drink more tea in the early ’80s and it inspired me toward risk.

One early series of sculptural teapots was made by castings of sewer lids and industrial sized plumbing parts and putting them together with hand-thrown elements. Weighting in at about 50 pounds, they weren’t functional. And since most of them were pit-fired they wouldn’t hold tea for more than a few minutes. Nevermind what tea might taste like in such a vessel. But I wasn’t about serving a cuppa back then.

I was more impressed by the historic and cultural importance of tea around the world. And yet, it was something we almost took for granted. We sip without a thought. Neatly clipped and groomed in little flow-through bags, tea had become functional. Like the beauty and craftsmanship of the sewer lid, is sometimes almost invisible. We so often ignore the art behind the functional elements of daily life.

Sitting On Tea

Fast forward a few decades.

I was delighted when I first saw The Tea Bench at the World Tea Expo ‘08. It was in an open, unadorned booth with a small sign. We could sit on tea. And by my personal definition, this was Art. Tea has come more important to me. And seeing it in a new form is more meaningful than it would have been in the past.

Ito En’s Green Tea Bench.

The Green Bench Is Made Of Green Tea! Recycled tea. It is one of the products made from the spent leaves processed by Ito En for their ready-to-drink bottled teas. The leaf by-products of processing high quality tea can be turned into a resin which coats a structural core.

Design is an art - putting the elements together in a meaningful way is the talent. The magic. And using the last bit of the leaf to create something of beauty and function seems to me to be part of the spirit of tea.

Ito En is creating many uses for tea leaf byproducts. They’re turning it into boards and paper products and the resin can be found in ball point pens to cups and soap dishes.

When I had an opportunity to meet Rona Tison at the Fancy Food Show in January, the bench was there. We sat and talked tea and sipped as we relaxed on The Bench. I asked her how we can purchase these amazing sculptures for our own gardens. But it seems that this product is not quite ready for prime time. The ball point pens, however, were our take-aways. I cherish The Pen but I still want The Bench. In my way of thinking, both are art. And both seem to speak for the enduring spirit of tea.

(A short YouTube video of The Bench can be seen by clicking the image to the right.)

So, here’s what I’m trying to say . . .

Great beauty and enduring art is sometimes found in the most unexpected ways. Artists have the opportunity and the luxury to create surprises with the ordinary elements of daily life. What we step on without seeing. What we sit on without appreciating. What we drink without considering the intricacies of the flavor or the process by which it came to us.

We tea lovers are artists with our tea. We celebrate it and elevate it in public awareness. We develop techniques to enhance the leaf. We create techniques to blend and serve. We cherish the leaf so much that we infuse our leaves multiple times until the flavor and nutritional elements are gone. And we can also use the metamorphosis of the leaf itself to generate more beauty.

I’m saving a place for a green tea bench -

Next to the teapot!

Popularity: 32% [?]