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| photo credit: Dave Thomas |
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| Screens installed in Urbane Tea Company Booth, Market at Fareway, Chestnut Hill, PA |
It’s always exciting to see work leave the studio for a new
home. Recently, I sent on their way three compositions I had been working on
these past few months for Urbane Tea Company. urbanetea.com, facebook.com/urbanetea
Tobey Watson, proprietor of Urbane Tea, creates gourmet
blends of loose leaf and herbal teas that are all rich aromatics with wonderfully
enticing labels such as Cherry Cordial and Dragon Pearls to Almond Apple Bake
and Lemon Chiffon, just to name a few. Since
we met I’ve been a fan and have too many favorite blends to choose from.
This past spring, Tobey opened a permanent booth for her
burgeoning business in the Market at the Fareway in Chestnut Hill, Pa. farewaymarket.com/urbane-tea/
The booth’s set up is an open space construction, the only
one like it in the market, allowing customers to walk in and savor the many
infusions and decoctions. During one shopping visit to replenish some of my
‘can’t do without’ teas the idea surfaced to design some artwork for the booth.
Since some of my work incorporates the paper from tea bags it seemed a logical
match. The concept we arrived at was to design screens that would utilize the
top or ceiling portion of the booth making the space more cohesive and provide
a warm, serene atmosphere for customers.
I loved the challenge
and process of working on these three compositions. Each screen has multiple
layers of paper that are painted, cutout or printed on. The colors and images
were inspired from the many different botanical ingredients as well as passing
daydreams that might surface from simply drinking a cup of tea.
So if you find yourself passing through Chestnut Hill go
visit Tobey, be sure to ask her about her new favorite Edward and Mae product
line of simple syrups too. If not in
Chestnut Hill, you might be able to catch her in Stockton, NJ at the Stockton
Farmer’s Market realtimefarms.com/source/7298026/urbane-tea-company or in
Rittenhouse Square in Philly. facebook.com/RittenhouseFarmersMarket
Below are images of the work in progress and completed installation
views.
Enjoy, drink some tea and thanks for reading!
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| Template drawings for two of the screens |
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| template and color studies |
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| Sections of patterns for the screen "The Cranes" |
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| Cutout in progress for "The Cranes" |
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| Layering individual sections against template |
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| Cutout for pattern "The Vines" |
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| individual sheets drying |
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| sheets for "Chrysanthemum" |
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| Each screen is 28" x 66" |
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| Installation Day with Toby Watson. Photo credit: Dave Thomas |
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| Installation of two screens. Photo credit: Dave Thomas |
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| with Tobey Photo credit: Dave Thomas |
