Dubai Design Week is pleased to announce that the World Food-waste Teahouse series by Mitsubishi Jisho Design, has been awarded the Gold Award in the Public Architecture category at iF Design Award 2025.
The iF Design Award is a globally recognised accolade that honours creativity and innovation across all disciplines of design. Organised by the iF International Forum Design, the award sets a global benchmark for excellence while reinforcing the role of design as a catalyst for progress and positive change.
The World Food-waste Teahouse is a series of installations constructed from food-waste materials, designed to be situated in various locations around the world. Showcased during Dubai Design Week 2023, Arabi-an by Mitsubishi Jisho Design is the second iteration in the series, a project that addresses the global issue of food waste by exploring its potential use as a building material.
The installation applies the Miura folding technique from Origami to create a lightweight, collapsible structure and incorporates local organic waste, including tea dregs and grape skins, into its architectural fabric. With sustainability and circularity at its core, Arabi-an rethinks material lifecycles while offering a quiet space for reflection. Beyond its material innovation, the installation honours the art of tea as a symbol of human connection, fostering intercultural dialogues.
The series has also progressed to the final stage of the Tecture Award 2025, after emerging top in the Public Architecture category.