Silent Matters - NYCxDESIGN 2025
Silence Please x ADORNO
NYCxDESIGN
New York City, 2025
During the NYCxDesign, Silence Please and Adorno launched a new collection – CHAWAN, of which Szkło Studio was part of.
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Kaikado – the legendary Kyoto-based maker of handcrafted tea canisters – Silence Please presented a five-day installation of ceremonial performances in its Lower Manhattan tea house. Titled Silent Matters, the experience blended Japanese tea ceremony with contemporary sound, light, and movement. Each performance was designed as a moment of stillness in a city of constant motion. At the heart of the event ADORNO presented a landmark collection of contemporary ceremonial vessels commissioned by 18 progressive ceramicists, reinterpreting the traditional ‘Chawan’ through their distinctive material practices. These limited-edition works – each produced in a series of ten – transcend functionality to become contemplative objects that challenge our perception of ritual implements.
Matcha bowl, CHAWAN Collection, Limited edition of 10 pieces
Szkło’s Studio Limied Edition CHAWAN matcha bowls are available on ADORNO.
The pieces in CHAWAN are crafted as both functional tea or matcha vessels and sculptural works – objects that invite reflection, slow use, and tactile appreciation. While grounded in the typology of the chawan, they move beyond direct reinterpretation, expressing personal approaches to making that respond to heritage, context, and experimentation. These vessels are suitable for preparing and drinking matcha, serving loose-leaf tea, or simply existing as contemplative elements in a space.
Each designer was invited to explore the chawan form through their established material language – ranging from raw, hand-built clay bodies and refined porcelain to molten glass and hybrid composites. The resulting works are diverse in technique and aesthetic, yet connected through a shared interest in restraint, intimacy, and the sensory dimensions of drinking vessels.
Informed by practices from Europe, Asia, and the Americas, CHAWAN reflects the ongoing relevance of traditional objects in contemporary life. The matcha bowl, in this context, becomes a point of dialogue: between past and present, utility and meaning, presence and absence.
CHAWAN Collection. Graphic credits: Adorno, Silence Please
Organiser: Silence Please
Curator: Martin Clausens (Adorno)
Artists:
Agne Kucerenkaite (LT)
Federica Paglia (IT)
Françoise Jeffrey (NL)
Freakleesh (US)
Lucile Gracile (FR)
Luft Tanaka (US)
Melo Clay (UK)
OOG Objects (PL)
Schoemig Porzellan (DE)
Streicher Goods (US)
Studio Berg (DE)
Studio Flore (US)
Szklo Studio (PL)
Vale Ro (NL)
VeromOCERAMIC (EE)
Volupte Studio (ES)
Zeynep Boyan (DE)
Studio S II (US)
Tea master: Yoshitsugu Nagano
Movement direction: Amy Gardner
Soundscape: Amma Ateria
Lighting: Nate Mohler