Swiss designer Didier Rudolf Quarroz's love of Chinese tea culture has inspired him to design innovative new items to brew the tea. Quarroz developed an interest in Chinese tea after working at a Shanghai-based design company, where he was by chance engaged in a tea project.
His research helped him develop a deep understanding of the differences between Chinese and Western tea products. And this made him think about designing items for foreigners to brew Chinese tea. "I hope to design easy-to-use and modem tea-making tools to help foreigners try Chinese traditional tea and give them an interesting experience in brewing tea." Quarroz says.
In 2017, he moved to Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province and a major tea-production base, to explore the possibilities of applying Western concepts in designing objects for Chinese tea. "I want to focus on the tea industry, and Hangzhou is a great fit because of the long history and profound culture of tea here," Quarroz says.
Quarroz began to concentrate on the design of a tea infuser (注射器）to make brewing easier for foreigners. It's a glass container with a silicone (桂胶)lid. All users need to do is to put the leaves inside, place it in a cup and add hot water. The infuser can be taken out from the cup easily without users' fingers being hurt by the hot water," Quarroz says.
Hangzhou has a booming tea industry, which has offered the Swiss designer many opportunities to cooperate with local plantations and companies. "Driven by the love of Chinese tea, I cooperate with local companies and help them to develop new kinds of tea products. Also, we sometimes organize workshops to introduce different teas to the public," Quarroz says.
Hangzhou also enables smooth business operations, he adds. "In general, it is easy to start a business in Hangzhou. And the government and agencies are increasing efforts to help and support young entrepreneurs, including us from foreign countries," he adds. Quarroz says he plans to design 10 innovative tea-related products by combining Chinese tea culture with international elements.
