WRITING THE WORLD, SAVOURING LIFE
Écrire le monde, savourer la vie
For centuries, the art of tea has symbolized elegance and thrived on values such as hospitality and exchange. Georges-Emmanuel Morali, gastronome traveler and astute publisher, has always evolved within the realm of books. Aspiring to create a special bond between the reader and the art of writing, he came up with the Thé des Ecrivains for the Book Fair in 1999, a stand where encounter, debate and tasting took place indiscriminately. It met with such success that it developed into a multi-leveled structure founded on the principles of pleasure and discovery.
“Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.”
The Thé des Ecrivains’ first initiative was to introduce an original range of ten literary teas, specially elaborated with a nose (the Claude Monet tea, Chinese philosophers’ tea, French, English, Russian, Japanese, Italian, American, German writers’ tea and 2000 years of writing), a beverage infused with everlasting values of virtue, to the most cultural of urban places: the bookshop.
The encounter between the flavours of tea and the realm of literature hence gave life to a world of enchantment in endless blossom. At the beginning of this millennium, Georges-Emmanuel Morali joined into partnership with a traditional cotton paper manufacturing workshop from northern India. He developed a poetic and colorful handicraft stationary respectful of local traditions and fair trade. Later on, the “Maison&Objet” Fair of Paris awarded prizes to many of his creations: the travel books, the multicoloured, season and yes/no notebooks, those inlaid with glitter and the conceptual printed ones.
Thanks to his frequent travels, Georges-Emmanuel Morali’s set in motion various collaborations and projects, all of which materialized as soon as 2003 in the midst of his publishing activity (collective works, travel stories, documentaries) and production firm (filmed interviews).
By 2005, the Thé des Ecrivains was a real life-size company playing an authentic cultural role and an incentive to travel and debate, whether on the fairs with which it associated or during the encounters it organized. Moments of exchange or respite were being experienced during which the graceful gesture of the hand around the cup of green, black or flavoured tea espoused the page that was being turned and the sentence being written.
Today, the adventure continues. The elegant showroom of the Thé des Ecrivains is set up in the Marais district of Paris and is the heart of nomadic activities (fairs, festivals, special events) and of a collection of products distributed in more than 700 sale outlets in France and abroad.
Writing the world, savouring life - Georges-Emmanuel Morali sought and found a means to instill a flavour of exploration, exchange and sensuality into contemporary culture. And the Thé des Ecrivains personifies these values in every respect.
Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady.
The Thé des Ecrivains’ first initiative was to introduce an original range of ten literary teas, specially elaborated with a nose (the Claude Monet tea, Chinese philosophers’ tea, French, English, Russian, Japanese, Italian, American, German writers’ tea and 2000 years of writing), a beverage infused with everlasting values of virtue, to the most cultural of urban places: the bookshop.
The encounter between the flavours of tea and the realm of literature hence gave life to a world of enchantment in endless blossom. At the beginning of this millennium, Georges-Emmanuel Morali joined into partnership with a traditional cotton paper manufacturing workshop from northern India. He developed a poetic and colorful handicraft stationary respectful of local traditions and fair trade. Later on, the “Maison&Objet” Fair of Paris awarded prizes to many of his creations: the travel books, the multicoloured, season and yes/no notebooks, those inlaid with glitter and the conceptual printed ones.
Thanks to his frequent travels, Georges-Emmanuel Morali’s set in motion various collaborations and projects, all of which materialized as soon as 2003 in the midst of his publishing activity (collective works, travel stories, documentaries) and production firm (filmed interviews).
By 2005, the Thé des Ecrivains was a real life-size company playing an authentic cultural role and an incentive to travel and debate, whether on the fairs with which it associated or during the encounters it organized. Moments of exchange or respite were being experienced during which the graceful gesture of the hand around the cup of green, black or flavoured tea espoused the page that was being turned and the sentence being written.
Today, the adventure continues. The elegant showroom of the Thé des Ecrivains is set up in the Marais district of Paris and is the heart of nomadic activities (fairs, festivals, special events) and of a collection of products distributed in more than 700 sale outlets in France and abroad.
Writing the world, savouring life - Georges-Emmanuel Morali sought and found a means to instill a flavour of exploration, exchange and sensuality into contemporary culture. And the Thé des Ecrivains personifies these values in every respect.
