FEATURE
rocky’s matcha
Oscar Tuazon
Type
Interview
Contact
As matcha lovers ourselves, this one feels particularly exciting. Rocky’s Matcha commissioned Oscar Tuazon to create Circle House, a sculptural installation that turns the ensō—the single-brush Zen circle—into an actual room you can enter for traditional Japanese tea ceremonies. The piece opened at their LA space on North Western Avenue, marking a shift from Rocky’s usual traveling pop-ups toward something permanent.
Rocky Xu founded the brand in 2022 and has built Rocky’s Matcha through fashion collaborations with sacai and Awake NY, plus pop-ups everywhere from Paris Fashion Week to Art Basel. But commissioning Tuazon signals a different direction. He met the artist through a collaboration with OTTO 958 during Felix Art Fair 2024, and Tuazon’s practice—which consistently blurs sculpture, architecture, and functional space—aligned with what Rocky wanted to build.
Circle House uses cardboard, wood, and tatami mats in a circular layout. The tatami regulates how you move and sit during ceremonies, guiding posture and the ritual of receiving the bowl. It’s both artwork and functional tea house, operating as sculpture you can view from outside and spatial environment you can occupy inside. Tuazon’s work often makes structure visible rather than hiding it, and here that extends to turning an ephemeral brushstroke into inhabitable architecture.
Rocky describes the goal as bringing people closer to the origins of tea ceremony, the philosophy and discipline behind it, while Tuazon provides the contemporary architectural framing. The ceremonies follow traditional principles, but the structure itself is a sculptural translation rather than historical replica. We’re excited to see art, design, and matcha converge like this, especially as matcha moves deeper into hospitality and cultural spaces beyond just being a drink. Rocky’s planning regular programming to activate the space through ceremonies, conversations, and gatherings that honor craft and community.
Rocky’s Matcha has built a reputation through fashion collaborations and pop-ups, but commissioning a site-specific installation from Oscar Tuazon feels like a different kind of move. What drew you to working with Tuazon specifically, and how did the idea of bringing his architectural practice into your space come about?
We’ve always believed in supporting and uplifting artists, and over the years that’s taken shape through partnerships across art, music, and fashion. But this felt like the right time to dive a bit deeper into our own project. We met Oscar Tuazon through one of our previous collaborations with OTTO 958 during Felix Art Fair in 2024, where he built the installation for Dover Street Market Los Angeles. Collaborating with Tuazon on this project made the most sense because his practice sits at the intersection of sculpture, architecture, and lived experience, aligning with our admiration for the traditions of tea. The idea of bringing his architectural language into our space came from wanting to create something more permanent. We’ve done pop-ups and served matcha at art fairs including Felix Art Fair, Art Basel, and Salone Del Mobile in Milan, but this was an opportunity to create a dedicated environment in Los Angeles that aims to honor the craft and philosophy behind matcha tea.
Circle House translates the ensō into an inhabitable structure with tatami mats and a circular plan. Walk us through what it’s been like to activate the piece through traditional tea ceremonies. How does the work function both as sculpture and as a space for ritual?
Circle House (2026) transforms the idea of the ensō, a single, continuous brushstroke, into something you can physically enter. Instead of a gesture on paper, it becomes an environment. The tatami mats regulate movement and posture, guiding how guests sit, turn, and receive the bowl. In that way, the structure isn’t just a backdrop, it quietly choreographs the ritual. We’re planning to activate the space through regular programming, to be announced at a later date, and hope to allow visitors to experience and appreciate chadō, the way of tea, and its embodiment of harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility.
The piece recalls traditional Japanese tea house spatial logic while being a contemporary sculptural work. How did you approach the collaboration to balance honoring tea ceremony tradition with presenting it as art in an LA context?
From the beginning, our intention was to honor the lineage of the tea ceremony. Matcha has been everywhere over the past few years and widely interpreted, but our goal is to bring people closer to its origins: the philosophy, discipline, and humility behind it. In collaborating with Tuazon, we carefully distinguished between the ritual itself and its architectural framing. The tea ceremonies follow traditional principles. The structure, however, is a contemporary sculptural translation of ideas like the ensō and the spatial logic of the tea house. That distinction allowed us to preserve the integrity of the ritual while presenting it within a work of art grounded in Los Angeles’ contemporary art landscape.
This feels like it could signal a shift for Rocky’s Matcha, from traveling pop-ups toward something more rooted in art and spatial practice. How are you thinking about what comes next, and does Circle House point toward where the brand is heading?
For the past couple of years, we’ve collaborated across art, fashion, and music, serving great matcha and creating moments of connection. Circle House (2026) expands on that. It allows us to create something immersive and lasting, a space rooted in ritual, humility, and presence. Looking ahead, we see this as a foundation for future programming: traditional tea ceremonies, conversations, and gatherings that honor craft and community. It doesn’t replace the pop-ups as we’ll always show up where our community is, but it’s a more complete expression of the brand and the values we’ve always held.
