The project started in a tea room in Japan. Studying the Syugijiki arrangement firsthand, the way the tatami joints form T-intersections rather than crossing corners, the way the alcove anchors the room without dominating it, raised a direct question: is the harmony this system produces physical or transferable?

The grid became the structural foundation of the layout. Its internal zones define the composition while its outer borders disappear, keeping the surface open. The harder discipline was the wabi-sabi principle applied to placement: images sit off-centre within their zones, white space distributes unevenly, alignment is resisted rather than enforced. The grid structures without imposing uniformity, which required actively working against the instinct to correct.

Copy is written in French, with Japanese inserted at specific moments chosen for meaning. 共生 and 一期一会 are not decorations. They carry the philosophical register of the project into the typography."