Water Listener

Water Listener was a collaboration between our Studio and Zifei Restaurant, Chengdu, China, transforming a seasonal menu into a multisensory performance. The design studio led the creative direction, design and scenography, shaping the meal as a narrative experience where taste, space, and time became inseparable.

Rather than presenting a sequence of courses, the studio developed a dramaturgical framework: each dish became a chapter, each transition a threshold. A central character, the Water Listener, anchored the story, whose voice was expressed through food, ritual, and spatial design.

The studio choreographed the entire guest journey, from lakeside rituals to courtyard dining. Every detail was treated as scenography: the sculptural plating of dishes, the tactile quality of serving ware, the pacing of courses, and the sensory layering of sound, scent, and atmosphere. Restraint and precision ensured that the natural setting remained the primary stage.

Through this approach, Water Listener reframed dining as a performative act of storytelling. The project demonstrates the studio’s commitment to designing experiences that move beyond aesthetics—crafting environments where narrative, space, and sensory detail converge into a coherent, memorable whole.