Now as promised, some photos of the opening night of Ando Masanobu’s first solo show in North America: “Kita Wou Omou Utsuwa”.

Our black library was emptied out to show off the collection of white ceramics. These was the section of multiples people could actually take off the shelf to take home with them.

The exterior banner.

A collection of coffee cups, and coffee drippers, some of the most popular items of the evening.

One of the special things we did for the exhibition to keep to the nordic theme was make glögg.

It made the whole place smell amazing. Thanks to Lauren who put it together for us!

Ando-san’s ceramics (a part of our personal collection) make perfect serving dishes for the almonds and raisins to add to the glögg.

Box of Air sculptures. Flowers by Coriander Girl.

During the early evening local artist Tomori Nagamoto brought over some tea ceremony tools so Mr. Ando could perform a traditional tea ceremony for the opening of the exhibition. We were invited to be the guests for the first two cups.

The tea ceremony itself is a beautiful ritual. in the beginning Mr. Ando serves the guests some sugar.

He then cleans the drinking vessel with hot water and discards this water in a bowl, and wipes the cup with a clean cloth.

The green tea is added and whisked together with the hot water. The cup is carefully inspected before handing the cup over to the guest.

After we finished our tea, Mr. Ando invited other guests to take part in the ceremony.

Whisking the green tea.

A big thank you to Takeya Daisuke, my brother Frank, and Lauren for helping put together the exhibition.

Thanks again to Coriander Girl for providing our flowers, and Easton’s for putting together our delicious spread of charcuterie.

Thank you to all of the people that came out to visit the exhibition Thursday night and came the next day on Friday for the public opening.

Last and most importantly, thank you to Ando Masanobu for traveling all the way to Toronto to attend the exhibition, and for allowing us to share his beautiful works with our customers.