issue 17. stillness.
not the quiet lake, or mist over a forest.
but the moment after. the one that happens without planning.
a coffee break on a busy day.
a comfortable cup of hojicha on a snowy evening.
the scent of jasmine drifting through fields dotted with white.
a fallen tree, still giving life through the table it became.
generations being born to family rituals in Iran.
water finding its way, as it always does.
a garden designed to need no one.
smoke and char, and what comes after.
centuries of tea utensils holding a culture in place.
the search for meaning in the footsteps of a father.
challenging tea norms through hip hop.
the bubbles that form on the surface.
chatting with strangers through vulnerability.
a vending machine and the quiet dignity of a decent sip.
a body held still, growing heavier with each minute.
slow down. observe.
issue 17 is out, ships next week. #readeighty
Featuring: @thetealetter@westcott@drinkingfolk@purelandtea@edvinasbruzas@sciencesthe@sipjojo@tealoverscollective@silvan.borer@a_mug_of_life@mitsui_memorial_museum_
Photographers often try to immortalise a special, decisive moment. It is what is expected from great photography. Faizal Westcott @westcott also finds interest in the aftermath.
“Sometimes it’s after the moment settles — when everything goes still, when you pause to think and simply observe — that things begin to feel clearer. That’s when beauty in the ordinary reveals itself.”
Five images from Issue 17. Tokyo and Kyoto. Nothing dramatic.
Issue 17 — Stillness. #readeighty
Some of the objects in this collection entered it as unpaid debt. Others were made by hand within the household.
All of them were used before they were kept.
Issue 17 | #readeighty
Images: @edvinasbruzas
Collection: Mitsui Memorial Museum, Tokyo.
The court is celebrating. He already knows what they don’t.
Stańczyk sits alone having just learned that Poland has lost Smolensk to Russia.
— Stańczyk, Jan Matejko, 1862.
Issue 16 was about heat. Not always the kind you feel on your skin.
Is there a painting that stays with you?
#readeighty
The tearoom is optional. The attention isn’t.
Erika Kobayashi serves tea under highway overpasses, in botanic gardens, and on city streets. Her tea school told her she was spreading it in the wrong way. She kept going.
#readeighty
Photo by Xavier Bartaburu
