Ivanka Chai takes its inspiration from the market primarily as a social space, where the work becomes an integration within, as well as a reflection upon a place of meeting and exchange. By offering what is known in Lithuania “as the Lithuanian green tea” the work Ivanka Chai plays on tea’s social aspects as well as its historic value. In Lithuania, the herbs are mostly picked wild and then sold by elderly women in the markets. 

Ivanka Chai project brings the Fireweed tea bought from the women in Kaunas, Lithuania to the Turkish Market in Berlin, connecting the two markets and cultures through the social elements of tea and alternative economies of the street market. Ivanka – opposed to the masc. Ivan (as the tea is known in Russian-speaking geographies) - stands as a representation of a collective body of women from who the tea was cultivated and bought. 

While the project might appear to be part of a new pop-up marketing campaign for a revitalised product and trade prospect, knowledge of its pre-existing cultivation can be passed down as Fireweed is native to the Northern Hemisphere.