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Architects: Landini Associates
- Year: 2014
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Photographs:Andrew Meredith
Text description provided by the architects. Landini Associates teamed up with iconic Australian tea brand, T2, to launch the company’s first international store in London. Situated in the heart of Shoreditch’s Redchurch Street, the space features a raw, striped back interior that serves as an antidote to the polished slickness of traditional British tea houses.
Just like T2 itself, the design is dedicated to celebrating the centuries-old art of making and drinking tea. A thirty-meter tea library, housing over 250 different varieties of tea, immerses customers in a knowledge bank of blends from around the globe. At the heart of the store tea-tasting stations and aroma tables invite customers to stimulate their senses and taste, touch, smell and compare the different ingredients and fragrances.
Transparent display counters made from layers of interwoven welded steel expose the inner workings of the drawers, from pulls to brass pipes, fittings and sinks. Brewing methods are demonstrated here amongst an extensive variety of tea wares sourced from around the world.
T2’s trademark orange packaging is offset by the industrial color palette, most noticeably the blackened, oxidized steel of the tea library. This metal interior extends out onto Redchurch Street and envelopes the front of the store.
Whilst the dark and aromatic design brings a distinctly Melbourne feel to Redchurch street, this new flagship showcases an exciting evolution in T2’s store designs. It marks the third successful collaboration between Landini and T2 – following the complete redesign of the company’s Melbourne headquarters and creation of their brew-bar concept last year - and preceded the fourth: T2 NYC.
