moom bookshop

Journal du Thé (JdT) invites the reader to explore contemporary tea culture. Created and edited by Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck and Tilmann S. Wendelstein in 2018, Journal du Thé wonders what is it that makes tea into this force which lets us slow down and grants serene moments to our lives. It is said, that what makes a teapot a teapot is the empty space inside. Likewise this publication sets out to explore space – in this case the space surrounding a cup of tea. With a curious and playful eye, Journal du Thé investigates the palette of cultures and feelings contained within tea practices and their power to overcome borders. For us, tea is a symbol of togetherness.

Chapter 3 explores everyday tea culture in India, visits craftspeople in Japan, England and elsewhere while musing about the concept of scale.

Chapter 3 features among others the potter Steve Harrison, tiny teaware in Alsace, France, the Kakuun-tei teahouse in the heart of Tokyo forest, Kettl Tea in New York, a short introduction to Einstein’s Tea Leaf Paradox, a collection of endlessly surprising teapots from Kochi in India, the metal craftswoman Yumi Nakamura, a teapot in the shape of a peacock, an Indian tearoom in 1920s Germany and its relation to the Bauhaus, the delicate Japanese confectionary of Okashimaru, a piece on Mingei theory and Oriental Orientalism, an essay on tea gardens in India and Japan, a recipe for a cup of Rama Tulsi, a piece on the meaning of tea in post-colonial Zimbabwe, Johanna Tagada’s paintings of women and tea, a list of books and what they have in common with the tea ceremony, the father of studio pottery in India Gurcharan Singh, Mai-Thu Perret’s giant walk-in teapot, Louise Garland introducing the holy Kawakawa plant of New Zealand, Satish Kumar and his inspiring peace walk,Taiwanese potter Ia-Wen Li, and of course another instalment of Izumi Shiokawa’s manga.

With contributions by Yoshiko Imaizumi, Cécile Sayuri Poimboeuf-Koizumi, Chipo Mapondera, Izumi Shiokawa, Kohei Yamamoto, Anuradha Ravindranath, Yashima Ide, Yasmine Ganley, Sarah Gissinger, Anouk Peeters, Ilona Tuominen, Malwine Stauss, The Bauhaus Archive Berlin, The Collection of Musée Alsacien Strasbourg, Charlotte Desborough, Jyoti Naoki Eri, René Rötheli, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Eléonore Grignon, Marco Tsai, Tilmann S. Wendelstein and Johanna Tagada.

Designed by Studio 75W and published by Poetic Pastel Press.