Portable Outdoor Tea Set

Type / Vessel Project
Duration / 3 months
Category / Industrial Design
Work Type / Individual

User Instruction

Target Audience: Outdoor enthusiasts, such as campers and hikers, who wish to maintain the refined ritual of tea-drinking in nature.

User Pain Points: Traditional tea sets are inherently bulky and fragile. Furthermore, current outdoor gear predominantly caters to European camping lifestyles, leaving a significant gap for products suited to Asian tea culture.

Concept

Brief Description

A highly portable, modular tea set specifically designed for outdoor activities. It seamlessly bridges the cultural essence of Asian tea-drinking with modern outdoor practicality, utilizing an innovative nesting and foldable structure to maximize space efficiency.

Core

Origami-Inspired Folding: The teacups utilize a geometric folding structure inspired by origami, allowing them to transition effortlessly from a flat, space-saving state into functional 3D shapes.
Extreme Modularity & Nesting: All essential components—including the teapot, burner, and tea storage—are engineered to nest perfectly into one compact, easy-to-carry unit.
Hybrid Materiality: The design intelligently combines durable Aluminum Alloy for the main body and heating elements with flexible Food-Grade Silicone for the collapsible teacups.

Ideation

Manufacture & Iteration

Material Testing: Early prototypes made of paper and plastic sheets lacked the necessary stability to hold hot liquids smoothly.

Structural Refinement: Extensive 3D modeling iterations were conducted to perfect functional details.

Metal Crafting: The physical prototyping phase involved hands-on metal fabrication