May 2026 Project of the Month: Aditi Chai
Aditi, founder of Aditi Chai, was unknowingly but consistently drawn toward the culinary world. Growing up in Bombay (now Mumbai), she was surrounded by fresh markets and street food, experiences that stayed with her into adulthood.
After moving to California, she realized how difficult it was to find authentic Indian food and began learning to cook with guidance from her mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law. Over time, she developed her own style and techniques.
Years later, in Switzerland, she found herself once again drawn to local markets and vendors. After moving to the Pacific Northwest in 2005, working with fresh produce sparked a new level of confidence in the kitchen, leading to pop-ups, farmers market meetups, and eventually Aditi Chai at Pike Place Market.
Aditi Chai began in 2018 as a pop-up and became a permanent retail shop in 2023. Their chai is an authentic masala tea made from a house concentrate, brewed in small batches for a single-cup aromatic experience. The tea is balanced and grounded, made with leaves sourced from India and steeped slowly with whole spices, local fresh herbs and ginger.
The Aditi Chai space reflects Aditi’s journey to the market in a tangible way. The illuminated interior wall sign features custom channel letters with acrylic faces and soft internal illumination. The letters are painted in a deep clove and mounted flush to the wall, paired with a fabricated aluminum cup logo with a clear acrylic face and printed translucent vinyl.
Positioned prominently on the corner directly across the Pike Place Market sign, the double-sided neon blade sign is suspended from the canopy, immediately catching the flow of the market. Constructed from painted aluminum with tempered glass panels and approximately 48 linear feet of 10mm citrus neon, with hand-painted detailing, the sign fits naturally within its setting.
Each cup of Aditi Chai steams with a history shaped by years of markets, movement, and rediscovery. From the street markets of Bombay to the energy of Pike Place Market, Aditi Chai carries the same sense of warmth, community, and connection that first made Aditi feel at home in the market.
Completed installation photography by Sam Horine
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