Yuran Ji

People tend to look forward because the past is often missing in our lives. I want to create a new stage for those forgotten traditions and cultures, and I imagine the design of such a space can warm up our memories, just like tea or other hot beverages. I cite tea because it serves as a parallel to an important issue of our Fort Greene, Brooklyn, site: gentrification. Both the neighborhood and tea subculture are facing the same problem, and the problem is that people are forgetting about their history. In other words, history is disappearing from our lives. The invention of the teabag made it possible for people to buy and try different kinds of tea, making tea one of the most popular drinks aside from coffee. However, every coin has two sides: The invention of teabag also led to the popularization of tea. The increased accessibility of tea has led to its decline as a ritual. Nowadays, the excessive use of teabags shortens the entire tea preparation process and distorts the original meaning or ideology of drinking tea.