Modular Tea Caddy

description

New Tea Storing solution

Storing tea bags in a kitchen can be a headache. My kitchen has so many brands and types of tea, that the storage area can turn into a mess. So I set out to design a modular tea caddy system that can bring order to the situation.

Veering away from the traditional tea caddy — I studied the long history of design especially in China and Japan — I decided to create a system that can be customized by the user. Each caddy holds one brand of tea, and more caddies can be added as needed.

Most people do not have enough space to spread tea caddies out along their kitchen counters. I decided to connect the tea caddies with tiny earth magnets which can be used to mount them to a vertical metal surface. I added a twist. The user can remove tea bags one by one from an opening at the bottom of the caddy and then replenish them from the top.

An example of the messy tea storage that many people struggle with finding specific teas within, keeping organized, and making look presentable.

 

Process

Sketches

This sketch shows the concept development of modular interlocking tea caddies.

Initially, I experimented with the PEZ candy dispenser approach. I found, however, that spring loading the tea bags from the bottom would cause jams if the bags were not inserted into the caddy in a precise way. So I abandoned the spring idea and turned to gravity. The final caddy design permits the tea bag to fall naturally to the bottom of the caddy where it is ready to grab.

Possible creative layouts that users can create using the modular tea caddies to display their tea collection.

Prototyping

This sketch shows the exploration of attaching the modular tea caddies with magnets.

Finding the right magnets was a challenge. After several experiments, I finally settled on a small but strong earth magnet that fits snugly into a standard size drilled hole. I chose walnut wood because is beautiful and does not give off its own fragrance. The aroma of the tea bags is dominant.

This image shows the final walnut tea caddy being clamped together while the glue dries.

Walnut was used for the final tea caddy as the wood its self has no scent that could interfere with the natural scent of the teas stored in the caddy.

Process photo of prototypes from beginning to end.

Skills used:

  • User research

  • Sketching

  • Prototyping

  • Woodworking

  • User testing

  • Photography

Tools used:

  • Adobe Photoshop

  • Adobe InDesign

 

Final Product

To open the tea caddy, the user lifts the lid off by pulling on the ribbon handle. 

Users remove individual tea bags from the bottom opening.