In Miaoli, Taiwan, artist Cheng Tsung Feng has taken inspiration from a traditional tea set to create his latest installation, ‘Tea Nest’.
The artwork is based on cha shou(茶壽), a heat preserving tea set for teapots, which is made with rice straws and stuffed with cotton fabric.
Originating from the Wenshui area of Miaoli, these containers were very important to the Hakka people, as farmers would take a rest and have pots of warm tea after they finished their work in the afternoon.
Weaving with rice straws, Cheng Tsung Feng has made the installation as big as a house for welcoming people inside.
Based on the notions of a teapot nest – lasting and warming – this artwork invites people to come inside and sit around, as if they were bathing in a huge cup of hot tea.
With the smell of rice, visitors are brought back to the agricultural society ofTaiwan in the 1970s.
Cheng Tsung Feng is a young Taiwanese artist, described as an old soul, he is fascinated by exploring the wisdom condensed out of time hidden in traditional utensils.
He is reluctant to let go of these intangible assets along with traditional utensils. Thus, he inherits them by design and learns to create utensils from their tradition.
