Background
Yūgen is an awareness of the universe that triggers emotional responses too deep and powerful for words. It is a Japanese word that is made up of two parts. The former portion, ‘yū‘, means graceful and elegant; while the latter part, ‘gen’ indicated something dark, profound and mysterious. For an elegant high tea experience inspired by Japan, we dug deep into Japanese design philosophy; and extrapolate the essence of Yūgen to the entire high tea experience.
To watch the sun sink behind a flower clad hill, To wander on in a huge forest without thought of return. To stand upon the shore and gaze after a boat that disappears behind distant islands, To contemplate the flight of wild geese seen and lost among the clouds… – Zeami Motokiyo
Yūgen
Over a span of three days, we hosted over 800 guests. We split students into teams or departments to decentralize responsibilities. With a focus on service style, food presentation, menu development and front of house skills, we carefully curated the ambience, keeping in mind the mysterious elegance of Yūgen.
Students worked on creating handmade light installations. A projection of a rotating day-night video of the earth created a void in the centre of the dining room. We played calm but mysterious ambient music and released fragrant mist to transport guests on their way to the dining room. See Floor Plan here. Once seated, we presented guests with origami bento boxes for a sampler menu. We served a set menu, with an option for vegetarian guests and served up a delicious selection of tea and tea-infused cocktails. See Menu Here.
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