A traditional Japanese tea room was originally designed for one thing: enjoying tea—often matcha—in a quiet, intentional space.
For this project, that idea was boldly reimagined: a tea room transformed into a beautiful listening room, designed to experience music with the same sense of focus and ritual.
Tea Room Reimagined as a Listening Room
Acoustic Design for Devon Turnbull (OJAS) at Karimoku Research, Tokyo
Featured on the cover of Casa BRUTUS (May 2026 / Vol.313).
A traditional Japanese tea room was originally designed for one thing: enjoying tea—often matcha—in a quiet, intentional space.
For this project, that idea was boldly reimagined: a tea room transformed into a beautiful listening room, designed to experience music with the same sense of focus and ritual.
At 380sound/Nice Company, we supported the soundstage and acoustic design for this installation created by Devon Turnbull (OJAS), presented at Karimoku Research in Tokyo.
Project Overview & Collaborators
This case study features the acoustic and soundstage design for a tea room reimagined as a listening room—created by Devon Turnbull (OJAS) and presented at Karimoku Research in Tokyo.
Karimoku is one of Japan’s most established furniture manufacturers, known for precision woodworking and long-term collaborations with artists and designers. Karimoku Research is the brand’s experimental platform where materials, craft, and spatial concepts are explored through exhibitions.
- Project: “Between Space & Sound (間の音)”
- Artist / Designer: Devon Turnbull (OJAS)
- Venue: Karimoku Research (Tokyo)
- Scope: acoustic planning + soundstage tuning (walls, shoji-style partitions, ceiling)
- Press: featured on the cover of Casa BRUTUS (May 2026 / Vol.313)
How We Met Devon Turnbull (OJAS)
I had been following Devon Turnbull’s work on Instagram for a while.
Thanks to Hikari from WHITELIGHT, we had the chance to meet in person.
We first connected at the MJ Audio Festival (June 2025), hosted by MJ Radio & Experiments.
It was a genuinely meaningful moment—and it ultimately led to us supporting this exhibition and bringing this collaboration with Karimoku to life.
From left to right: Motoaki Sayama (me), Devon Turnbull, and Hikari.
Two Types of Absorption and Ceiling Diffusion
For this project, we supported the acoustic design of the tea room’s interior—specifically the wall surfaces, the ceiling, and shoji-like partitions.
We used the same acoustic absorber on both the tea room walls and the shoji-style partitions.
Two different types of absorption were used: we aimed for the surfaces handling direct absorption to produce a warmer sound, while the sound reflected off the walls was treated with more effective absorption to properly control the room’s ambience.
For the tea room ceiling, we did not use absorption; instead, we created a reflective surface.
We also considered the absorption of the tatami flooring, ensuring the returning sound would remain delicate and detailed—without becoming overly forward or harsh.
MAIN EXHIBITION:
『間の音ー Between Space & Sound ー』By OJAS Tokyo and Karimoku Furniture
DESIGNER:
Devon Turnbull / OJAS
VENUE:
1F THE ARCHIVE 2F THE MATERIALS LAB B1F THE STUDY EXHIBITION
DATES:
2026. 02. 21 - 2026. 06. 05
Consultation & Custom Work
We can support everything from acoustic planning and soundstage tuning to upgrading existing commercial audio systems—and even fully custom speaker design and manufacturing.
If you’re a studio, listening room, restaurant, retail shop, or hospitality venue and want:
- a sound system that makes an impact visually, and/or
- better sound than your current setup,
we’d be happy to chat—even a quick consultation is welcome.
