Isetan Shinjuku
A limited-edition tea box in paulownia wood, finished with vintage foils and mother-of-pearl.
For Isetan Shinjuku, thé-En developed a limited-edition tea box for an organic sparkling tea release — an object made for a special occasion, with the presence of something closer to an art piece than conventional packaging.
Paulownia wood was finished with vintage foil and mother-of-pearl shaved to a fraction of a millimeter, thin enough for light to pass through, glowing blue against black lacquer. What appears small in scale carries the same depth of making as the larger works.
The craftsmen behind this object are the same hands and minds that shape thé-En’s textile collaborations. The knowledge does not belong to one category alone. It moves from woven surface to lacquered form, from cloth to vessel, while the rigor remains the same.
What mattered here was not scale, but rigor. The box was not conceived as ordinary packaging, but as an object whose value lies in rarity, atmosphere, and occasion.
This is part of thé-En’s larger practice: the same process, the same standards, taking different form. The scale changes. The material language changes. The knowledge travels.