In a world that seems to be in constant movement, honouring stillness and indulgence has become vital. “PressPause” is the perfect blend of a shared passion for elevating daily experiences—a collaboration that reimagines your everyday coffee routine as a time to slow down and savour the mundane.
The “PressPause” collaboration with TANCHEN Studio takes inspiration from the sensory delights of a coffee break, inviting us to step back from the never-ending grind of modern life. In this collaboration, MORNING and TANCHEN Studio introduce the MORNING Machine Lite in two colourways — Lilac and Maroon — colours that evoke curious coffee notes found in every cup.
The collection also includes tableware and dining objects, such as barista cloths, woven coasters, a stainless steel bowl, a beaded placemat, and a limited-edition butter-toned version of TANCHEN’s signature MAZHA Stool, all designed with intention. These items create a perfect synergy, encapsulating TANCHEN’s dedication to thoughtful craftsmanship and MORNING’s mission to enhance the coffee experience.
Food and wine have been significant inspirations for Amber Chen and Sanchia Tan, the creative minds behind TANCHEN Studio, and this influence is evident in everything they create. With coffee being a huge part of their lives, they eagerly seized the opportunity to create limited-edition colourways for the MORNING Machine Lite and craft objects inspired by the vibrant coffee culture around the world.
In our quest to delve deeper into the inspiration and creative process behind “PressPause,” we sat down with Sanchia to uncover the nuances of their design philosophy and their shared love for the slow, deliberate rituals that make life truly enjoyable. Keep reading for an intimate glimpse into our conversation with them.
Tell us a bit about yourself!
I’m Sanchia Tan, the co-founder of TANCHEN Studio. I met my co-founder, Amber Chen, in 2013 at Central St. Martins in London, where we studied Textile Design, with a specialisation in Weave.
After graduating, Amber pursued her Masters in Woven material at RCA, while I worked in a menswear weave studio in London for 2 years. At the end of 2019, after we had met up in Shanghai to conduct weave workshops, we decided to start TANCHEN Studio together.
The motivation for doing so was because we wanted to centre weaving as the main practice in our lives, but we also wanted the freedom to explore our interests. The only way we could see this happening was to start our own independent design studio, almost as a sort of laboratory where we could just play around with ideas, and engage in research and dialogue with one another.
What is your morning routine like?
I like to start my morning with a shower — it wakes me up and I think it’s the perfect time to set the agenda for the day and make a list of tasks in my head. I’m also a no breakfast kinda girl, but I do enjoy a big lunch and dinner. So next, I'll make myself a coffee, depending on what I’m feeling like, iced or hot, white or black. And then Amber and I typically jump on a call at 10am to go through our goals and strategies together.
How would you describe TANCHEN? What was your vision for it when you first started out? Did you always know you were going to be an entrepreneur?
We’re a design studio that takes textiles as our central element. When we first started TANCHEN Studio in 2019, we were focusing on larger installation projects. But now, we create functional textiles for both use and display.
Our explorations typically combine traditional weaving techniques with novel materials, though the definitions of “traditional” and “novel” are always up for debate. At the heart of it, we research, develop, and design with the intention of showcasing the beauty of materials — any and all materials — in an honest, playful, and approachable way. We treat all of our products and commissions as part of an ongoing iterative process, constantly searching for techniques to leverage a material’s best qualities.
What’s the biggest learning experience you’ve had?
Honestly, the entire experience of starting a small business from scratch has been one big learning experience, and it continues to be one every day!
We started TANCHEN Studio purely out of a desire to explore materials and push ourselves as weavers and designers. But we’ve learned that there are certain realities involved in running a business and being commercially viable. So we’re constantly trying to figure out how to marry our process-driven and experimental attitude with more practical and logistical concerns.
What’s one thing people don’t know about you?
My family is also into coffee, so from a young age I’ve worked in cafes, helped pack coffee beans, and assisted in roasting. I’m a coffee fiend!
Tell us a little more about the collaboration with MORNING!
Amber and I have always been inspired by food and wine. Both of us had experience working in restaurants in London during university. I also worked at a couple of wine bars here in Singapore. You can definitely see how this interest permeates our collections—we often design for ourselves, and so we imagine that food is as central to our customers’ lives as it is to ours.
When MORNING approached us to choose two new colourways for the MORNING Machine Lite and to design an accompanying capsule collection, it was a no-brainer for us to create new tableware and dining objects that revolve around coffee.
What was the inspiration behind “PressPause”?
This lifestyle collection celebrates the act of slowing down. People often think of coffee as a pick me up or as morning fuel. Similarly, many of our objects are bags and carriers intended for someone on the go.
For this collection, we thought it would be interesting to go against our own grain a little bit, and so we decided to focus on domestic life. We’ve created an offering of home textiles like barista cloths, placemats, and coasters, alongside a stainless steel bowl and our signature MAZHA Stool in an exclusive colourway.
These objects are meant to encourage stillness, whether in the form of a shared midday break or a quiet moment of reflection in the morning. The colours and textures in this collection are inspired by some of our favourite things that remind us of laid-back coffee rituals: kueh, affogato, and even just butter (we love butter).
What is your favourite TANCHEN product from the collection?
We’re really excited about the barista cloths, which are our first product exploring print. An interesting theme throughout this collection is the use of Plain Weave, a durable weave that works really well for practical, everyday textiles. So one can see the variety of surfaces you can create with one technique applied across different materials. The barista cloths showcase exactly that in 2 prints but in different colourways and scale.
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
To not be too precious with my work. If I catch myself hesitating or wanting to say no to a project, I try to think about why I’m apprehensive—is it because the project itself doesn’t work for me? Or is it because I’m afraid that what I make won’t be up to some imaginary standard I’ve set for myself? Of course, it’s also a skill to know when to say no, and there are projects which just aren’t the right fit. But I also have learned a lot from wading into uncertain territory.
Failure is part of experimentation, and we see every project as an opportunity to challenge ourselves, learn new knowledge, and refine our design language.
What are three things you can’t live without?
Coffee, wine and making things with my hands.
What advice would you give budding entrepreneurs?
If you build it, they will come. It’s natural to want to please everyone, but once you let go of that desire and really focus on your point of view, that’s when you begin to bring something unique and authentic into the world. It’s that perspective that becomes the soul of your business.
What can we expect from TANCHEN Studio in the years to come?
We have a few interesting product launches and collaborations in the pipeline that we can’t quite talk about yet. Some are fun spins on our current offerings, and some are entirely new shapes and surfaces that we’re quite excited about. We’ve recently worked with some brands that we’ve been long-time fans of, using their deadstock materials to create custom items, and those kinds of briefs are always interesting to us, so we’d love to keep designing in that direction!
MORNING's first physical store has opened at New Bahru, offering an immersive space dedicated to the art of coffee. There, you can explore the “PressPause” collection alongside other MORNING products, each thoughtfully designed to elevate your coffee experience.
Follow TANCHEN Studio here. Shop their latest collections here.
