Theaster Gates presents Chawan Cabinet at Prada Home in Milan

During Milan Design Week 2026, Theaster Gates opened 'Chawan Cabinet' at the new Prada Home space on Via Montenapoleone. The installation centers on ceramic vessels—chawan, yunomi, guinomi, tokkuri—and the rituals they provoke. Gates collaborated with Japanese potters Taira Kuroki, Yuichi Hirano, Shion Tabata, and Koichi Ohara, plus tea master Yukino Washizu. The clay was sourced from the American Midwest (Wisconsin, Indiana, North Carolina) and fired in a Japanese-style kiln built in Chicago, deliberately evoking Tokoname techniques. Larger sculptural elements from Gates' Chicago studio accompany the cabinet, which blurs furniture and staging. Venetian plaster was reworked with straw and aggregate to create a worn finish. Gates placed Pelican cases (safety orange, military green) behind the bowls, contrasting industrial protection with handcrafted ceramics. He stated, 'Ideas trump scale,' and emphasized reuniting physical and intellectual labor: 'The hand is the mind.' The installation was timed to the week but its end remains open, consistent with wabi-sabi impermanence. Gates framed the project as unifying utility and beauty, moving beyond binaries of contemporary art versus retail, craft versus conceptual practice. The Prada Home permanent space is now open at Via Montenapoleone 6, Milan.