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context: tea ceremony > history
Murata Shuko 1421?-1502
Until the 15th Century, the tea ceremony as the world now knows it didn't exist. Many credit tea master Murata Shuko (sometimes given as Juko) with starting the transformation. He instituted drinking tea in quiet surroundings, recreating it as an art form or ritual, in a small room custom-built for the purpose (his standard size was 4.5 tatami, 9'x9'). He was also the first to use native ceramics along with the Chinese - they hadn't been considered worthy before him.
We don't know why he did this. Obviously this fits better with the ideas of Zen, and there may well have been an aesthetic component too. In addition, this move came from the merchant class, not the samurai or the nobility - and the merchant class had far less access to rare and prized Chinese ceramics. This move certainly suited that class's resources, wares and needs very well, so we shouldn't dismiss all that as a possible factor.