Ever since we started planting tea in the farm in Fornelo/Vila do Conde, we dreamed of having a Japanese tea house there. It remained a dream for 10 years until, in the summer of 2023, we visited the artist Peter Granser in Germany to have tea together. Enthusiastically he told us about a modern adaptation of a Japanese tea house that he found at an auction, which rekindled our dream. We discovered that this tea house is a true work of art designed by the Japanese architect Fumihiko Sano for the design duo Scholten & Baijings (2016/Arita). We managed to buy the tea house at the auction and finally brought it from the Netherlands to Portugal.
 

 
In 2024, artist Peter Granser completed an artist residency at our tea plantation and created the installation “Water/Air/Tree – a Tea- Space-Installation”. At the opening event of the tea house, he displayed his photographs in the hallways and welcomed visitors inside in the tatami room with furniture by designer Christian Haas. While serving tea, Peter Granser invited the visitors to a conversation about art and tea.
 
In the future, we plan to organize more temporary events at the tea house, as the interior structure is sensitive and cannot be exposed to the elements for long periods of time.