Tools for Tea
How could tea connect communities locally and virtually?
Come Together commissioned artist Linda Brothwell created ‘Tools for Tea’, where she connected community gardeners to create herbal tea blends and develop a DIY tea strainer kit.
About:
“Tools for Tea began in Autumn 2021 when I started meeting with a group of community gardeners in Knowle West, Bristol to investigate what was growing in our common spaces that could be used for making herbal tea from. We recognised the importance of tea making and drinking in coming together and showing care for each other.”
Linda Brothwell
For the Come Together Weekender, residents could receive a ‘Tools for Tea’ pack in the post. The pack contained all materials needed to make your own tea strainer alongside an instructional video and leaflet about local growing spaces in Knowle West.
“I gained a great sense of achievement after creating the tea strainer. I use this in my kitchen on a regular basis. I have made tea for my youngest daughter after a long day and my eldest when she came to visit. I find it a meditative process… a treat, if you like”
– Anonymous Participant
During Quarantine’s ‘No Such Thing,’ strangers were posted a packet of our Knowle West tea blend to enjoy while talking together on Zoom. This created a hybrid experience where people could connect over something physical while meeting virtually.
Development of ‘Tools for Tea’
During her Come Together residency, Linda Brothwell collaborated and tested ideas with growers from Knowle West community gardens from; Redcatch Community Garden, Springfield Allotment, Feeding Bristol, KWMC garden and independent home gardeners.
Gardeners contributed herbs, seeds, roots and flowers harvested from their allotments and gardens to experiment with tea blends and co-create a new Knowle West tea. Hackney Herbal led digital training to talk about how to harvest, store, and blend various plants for tea.
Knowle West’s growers worked with Linda to create a tea-strainers pack through a workshop at the Springfield Allotment’s Roundhouse.
The project has facilitated new and long-lasting connections between local growers and green spaces.
‘Tools for Tea’ was featured in The Knowledge, Knowle West’s local magazine, 2021-22.
Project Credits:
Leaflet design: City Edition Studio
Photography: Ibolya Feher, Claudia Collins, Linda Brothwell
Film Credits:
Filming: Mevis Birungi
Editing: Deqa Hassan
Producer: Georgia Hall
Sound: Jake Lee-Savage
Storyboarding: Helena Middleton
Fancy a cuppa? Commissioned artist Michelle Roche invites you to reflect together over a cup of tea in ‘Listen, I’m here for you‘.
Linda Brothwell (she/her) is a British visual artist based in Bristol, UK. Her multi disciplinary practice casts her as a maker of objects, tools and publicly sited interventions.
She considers what it means to make something by hand that takes ‘care’ as its core, to not only make the ‘thing’ but to make the tools to make the thing, to spend months or years immersed in the techniques, the materials and the stories of a place. Linda uses craft traditions in her work including fine metalwork, tool making, ropework, and wood inlay.
Gallery
Top row of photos by Ibi Feher.
