In Japanese "ceremony of tea", the old ideogram representing the room where the "thing" happens, is called a "sukiya", which means "house of fantasy".
In more recent years, the masters of ceremony, changed the ideograms to Chinese's, giving to the above word, newer and newer meanings - i.e. "house of Emptiness", "house of asimmetry", always describing the space where the "tea" is actor, ephemeral protagonist, of a supremely "unuseful", BUT sublimely human play: "unuseful" and "senseless" - considering stars and whole universe - like life is.
Emptiness? Yes, because only an empty place can contain, at any moment, the need of aesthetic hungriness or whatever...
Asimmetry? Yes... because only something "imperfect" leaves room (...) for the fantasy and to mind for completing things...
The first "tea-room", a self-standing and contained, autonomous entity from the house itself, was created by Sen no Soeki (Rikyu), in XVI century: he defined "kakoi" - a (fenced) space inside the house, "mizuya" - a service space for storing and washing tools, "machiai" - a waiting space for hosts, a "roji" - a path to "sukiya", the secluded tea-room, itself...
Last, but not least, in traditional Japanese houses, the sukiya with its well-choosen, poor, yet classy building materials and accessories, is - often - the most expensive and cherished part of the house; only the expert eye is able to appreciate and consider the level of care infused by tea-room owner!
All the above VERY strongly reminds me of a well-conceived and cherished music-room: leave alone the Japanese names: enough thinking how "tubes" are called by occasional, average friends... bulbs;-)...
Gears and cables and stuffs should be hidden, or, at least, unobstrusively placed to do not distract or hurt the eye; a proper choice of colours for furnitures and walls is paramount, as well; the room should be like a peaceful island where, let's call it, "business" - i.e. a certain degree of controlled clutter or chaos, should give a liveliness, giving to this place a pleasant, warm, uncold quality at being there.
Money? Same as sukiya;-) - only the owner, for his VERY own-sake, should know the grand-total spent, and never, ever becoming a conversation topic.
... and it should be away from a kitchen or a working place, to suggest the elevation of tastes over everyday acts & facts.
Furthermore, fried-chicken smell AND Bach's Cello Sonatas do not match;-)
The mind should find best conditions to enjoy Music, relaxed, yet awake and apt to capture music, its beautiful details... its meaning.
A lesson from the past...
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