2026 AR - Tea House by Y S D M Studio
A gallery of select gifts from the George R. Kravis II Collection
Tea House
by YoshiHIRO sergel & diana mangaser
Manitoga / The Russel Wright Design Center is thrilled to announce the return of Tea House, by designers Yoshihiro Sergel & Diana Mangaser of Y S D M Studio in 2026, rebuilt atop Mary’s Meadow. Set upon quarry-stone footings afloat in the dogwoods, the Tea House embodies the integration of design and nature at Manitoga while evoking Russel Wright’s great affinity with Japan. Designers Yoshihiro Sergel & Diana Mangaser conceived and hand-crafted the Tea House from wood, paper, and string as a space for contemplation and ritual, a stage for poetic performance, and as an open framework for experiencing nature through seasonal change as spring blooms to summer, then melts to fall, and crystalizes to winter at Manitoga.
GUIDELINES FOR VISIT
We invite entry into the Tea House and ask for visitors to respect the delicate nature of the space: Please remove shoes before entering, do not disturb/touch the string within the doors, and do not move the hearth cover or flooring slats. Thank you.
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
Y S D M will host a series of special programs starting Summer 2026 entitled 浮雲 Ukigumo: Floating Clouds which evokes ephemerality in nature as a reflection of human temporal existence. 浮雲 Ukigumo: Floating Clouds is an invitation to gather at the Tea House in observation of these subtle shifts in nature in the spirit of Japanese tea culture with each micro-season at Manitoga Events will be held for the following seasons:
June 夏至 Geshi (Summer Solstice)
August 大暑 Taisho (Greater Heat)
September 秋分 Shūbun (Autumn Equinox)
October 霜降 Sōkō (Frost Falls)
January 冬至 Tōji (Winter solstice)
Feb/March 雨水 Usui (Rainwater)
April 清明 Seimei (Pure and clear)
May 立夏 Rikka (Beginning of summer)
June 芒種 Bōshu (Grain beards and seeds)
Visitors are invited to intimately engage with the landscape in Mary’s Meadow through gathering at the Tea House, where they meet the design duo for a celebration of each season over tea.
A WORD FROM THE DESIGNERS
茶の湯 Cha-no-yu or the Art of Tea starts with thoughtful making and enjoyment of tea, a practice that Japanese tea masters believe embodies a state of mind or transcendence. This simple transcendence can occur everyday. Tea, in itself, is a seemingly mundane thing. But in its preparation, tea also undergoes tremendous transformation—from tree, to leaf, into water over fire—to create something one can experience. This idea of transformation is inherent to the Tea House design. Tea as a program brings together the transformation of natural materials, the transformation of the elements, and the transformation of space in the experience of the architecture.
At Manitoga, the Tea House is an ephemeral structure built to house a transcendent moment, to receive the visitor as an open platform for self reflection and intimate connection with nature. Set in a woodland knoll in Mary’s Meadow, the Tea House offers a rarefied public space in nature: a secret refuge in the woodlands.
— Diana Mangaser & Yoshihiro Sergel
ABOUT YOSHIHIRO SERGEL & DIANA MANGASER
Yoshihiro Sergel and Diana Mangaser lead Y S D M, a design studio based in New York’s Hudson Valley. Y S D M imagines design as a prismatic lens which integrates spatial awareness, architectural sensibility, and aesthetics into the structure of everyday environments. Y S D M operates from a ground-up, environmentally, economically, and socially conscious framework—leveraging constraints as principles which position their work and generate conceptual lines of study. As of late, Y S D M’s interest lies in tea culture; intersections between traditional materials with contemporary methods; and imagining architecture as a regenerative practice.
The 2026 Art + Design Residency is made possible through support from the Sara Little Turnbull Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, Manitoga’s Board of Directors, Leadership Council, Design Circle and the 2026 Art & Design Host Committee.