TTT PROJECT

DOOR to ASIA 是一個設計師駐村計畫，邀請亞洲地區設計師前來日本當地社區駐村一段時間，為在地企業創造並提供永續經營的傳達設計觀點與方法。

受DOOR to ASIA之邀，HOUTH設計師何婉君參加了DESIGN CAMP in NARA Japan為期一週的駐村計畫。跟HOUTH一起分組參與計畫，是來自大阪的平面設計師，與我們合作的對象是位於吉野的茶品牌，嘉兵衛本舖 KAHEE HONPO。

我們在嘉兵衛本舖住宿三天，跟著業主一起生活、一起工作。深度了解他們經營品牌的整個過程細節以及所面臨的問題。接著為期三天，我們透過設計思考提出解決方案，最後一天向業主與社區的人發表成果。

嘉兵衛本舖是位於奈良吉野超過百年的茶品牌，最廣為人知的是經典傳統的日曬番茶。番茶的製作過程要先採下老葉蒸氣烘乾後，再將葉子自然日曬在太陽下，一天內經過幾次全人工的翻面曬葉，讓茶葉日曬至乾焦入袋，用百年來堅持的傳統方式製作番茶。

我們參與時，他們不久前才更新了品牌識別，深入了解後，發現他們遇到的問題是：兩代間的經營理念的不同，與地區人口老化人手不足造成的供給問題，以及在銷售上的通路單一。

嘉兵衛本舖擁有豐富的茶文化知識，品茶體驗工作坊，以茶入菜的實驗料理，有個希望未來能在本舖附近開店的夢想。嘉兵衛本舖因為名字註冊問題，所以無法沿用至新店鋪的設計。因此，我們提出了一個全新的企劃：

ttt Project 概念店
tea，茶與茶的飲食與延伸
taste，品茶的體驗工作坊或是跟茶有關的器具販售
trip，摘茶葉的體驗或是日曬體驗與茶的知識教室

透過新型態的概念店與營運方式，帶來年輕族群為地方注入創意與活力，同時為地方與傳統文化帶來新發展可能，甚至增加地方工作機會，解決目前所遇到的困境。

DOOR to ASIA is a designers in residence program where designers from Asian countries gather in a community for a period of time to create “communication design” for the local companies.

Ho Wan Chun, the designer of HOUTH, got invited to join the 7 days residence program “DESIGN CAMP in NARA Japan”, Wan Chun team up with Urara, an Osaka designer, and to work together with a Yoshino local tea brand KAHEE HONPO.

Both designers homestay at the tea company for 3 days to work and live together with owners, in order to understand every process and details how they manage the brand and discover the problems they are facing now. Then the design team have 3 days to discuss and come out the design solution, and present to owners and local residents.

KAHEE HONPO is a tea brand based in Yoshino Nara, Japan over 100 years which specialize at traditional sun drying bancha. The process of making bancha is to pick old leaves and steam drying first, then put all the leaves natural dry under the sun. They have to flip the leaves manually couple times a day, till the leaves become really dried and packed into bags. This is how they make bancha, exactly the same way as 100 years ago.

When we start to research the brand, we found out the problem is not the visual identity, but the different business philosophy between 2 generations, the problem of insufficient local population and the single sales channel.

KAHEE HONPO has a wealth knowledge of tea culture, tea testing experience workshops and creative tea-related cuisine. They wish to open a new store near the old shop in the future. Because of the name registration problem of KAHEE HONPO, they can’t use the same name in the future store. Therefore, we propose a brand new project:

ttt Project Concept Store
t for tea and tea-related cuisine
t for tea testing workshops and tea utensils
t for trip of tea picking, tea leaves flipping and tea knowledge course

Through the new concept store and new business model, to bring the young people back and increase the local creativity and energy, to refresh the local and traditional culture, even to increase employment opportunities.