Muji: tea set

description

Designing a toronto muji hotel SOUVENIR

I developed a process for locating a new Muji boutique hotel in Toronto and then designed new room amenities to enhance the customer’s experience. This was a university assignment relating to designing within a brand’s aesthetic, and the project was not associated with the company, Muji.

What is Muji? In the Japanese company’s own words: “Muji’s goal is to give customers rational satisfaction, not with, This is what I really want’ but with ‘this will do . . .’ simplicity and emptiness yield the ultimate universality, embracing the feelings and thoughts of all people."

I proposed Toronto’s Entertainment District for the new hotel. Muji’s modern aesthetic would fit in well with the existing architecture there. I then set out to design a tea set for the hotel rooms, using Muji’s aesthetic as a starting point. I strived for a simple and practical design that would match the minimalist feel of the rooms: natural colours, materials made of wood, rectangular and curved furnishings, and no printed patterns.

As a tea lover myself, I’ve always been plagued with what to do with the spoon. So I incorporated a vertical slot for a spoon’s handle.