Rather than a critical eye belonging to tea connoisseurs, creators and editors Johanna Tagada and Tilmann S. Wendelstein of Journal du Thé adopt a curious and positive approach to exploring the space around tea and the borders it melds. Released earlier this year in April by Poetic Pastel Press, it is one facet of Johanna’s collaborative cultural project which focuses on art, publishing and textile roused by natural elements and warm memories. The publication is designed by Tilmann, co founder of The Simple Society.

Taken from her introduction text for Journal du Thé (2018) Johanna tells the story of how the project came about, ‘Early 2013, as I felt little warmth in my life, friends offered me a hot cup of tea. She was Japanese, he was Belgian-Russian and we sat together in Germany drinking Taiwanese tea, speaking a brew of German, French and Japanese. Surely I had drunk tea before, however this particular cup, symbolic of a gesture of kindness, is what I observed soon after to be a turning point.’

Chapter one features the likes of Japanese architect and architectural historian Terunobu Fujimori and Susan Cianciolo, the artist behind ‘RUN church, RUN Restaurant, RUN Store’ in her space for tea at Modern Art, London. Contributors include Johanna’s husband, artist and musician Jatinder Singh Durhailay who also collaborates on Poetic Pastel, Tamsin Clark, manager of Tenderbooks and Miki Kadokura, co founder of The Simple Society.

Journal du Thé – Contemporary Tea Culture will be holding an event at Tenderbooks in London on Saturday July 14th from 5 to 7pm.

You can find Johanna Tagada here. Poetic Pastel here and follow here.