In tea ceremony, the cha shi, or tea stage, is the space where tea is served. The stage begins at the table where tea is prepared and extends outward into the room, the objects, the server, the guest, and the world beyond. The cha shi is not a backdrop. Each object in it is made for a specific purpose. For this exhibition I made Ojai the tea stage, with The Village Archive at its center. I brought boulders in from the surrounding landscape to dissolve the boundary between interior and exterior, between what's built and what's found.

The teapots, kettles, bowls, and cups were made in my studio a few miles away. The teapot side handles were foraged by hand from branches and roots I gathered while surfing and hiking the California landscape, and each one was fitted to its vessel. The tea tables were built from naturally felled redwood burl, Bastogne and claro walnut, and spalted sycamore, with brass inlay, and every surface carries the grain and history of its source tree. Guests sat on meditation benches or on zafus in sheepskin from a regenerative grazing project here in Ojai.

The boulders asked nothing except attention. The space asked for presence. The tea asked us to listen.

My intention is for the spaces I design, the objects I make, and the ceremonies I serve to ripple outward, helping people reconnect with nature, with presence, and with a reverence for human craft. This show was the first time I could offer all of that at once, in one room, to my community.

Over a few weeks, hundreds of people sat for tea. Some had kept a practice for a lifetime, and others were receiving tea for the first time. I bow deeply to everyone who came through. The next iterations will travel to other cities, and the exhibit will return to Ojai.