TEDxDeadSea CreativiTEA Room

On April 30th, TEDxDeadSea attracted over 800 people to inspire a new generation, by sharing ideas on Education, Creativity and Entrepreneurship.

Chanoyu Arabia got the wonderful chance to be part of such a great event, and created the TEDxCreativiTEA Room, where it allowed people to experience Chanoyu, and also witness the complex and inspiring work of our Origami (Art of Folding Paper) prodigy, Musa-san.

While people were buzzing outside, the perfect setting of the Tea Room, allowed us to prepare for the scheduled guests, a nice and quiet experience.

The flower arrangement was made of Common Mallow (Malva) コモンマロ خبيزة, and Snapdragon 金魚草 فم السمكة, in a Bizen-ware vase.

The first session was relatively quiet, with three, but very harmonious guests, who made our start a very encouraging one.

The small number of guests at first allowed us to have them inspect the Natsume, and learn a few things about Matcha.

A bigger crowd joined in for the next session, and enjoyed taking part in it.

More people got curious to enter the room.They were greeted by the mind-boggling origami works of Musa-san.

The lovely space we were offered at the CreativiTEA Room allowed many people to be seated either on the Tatami mats, or on the fancy leather seats.

This particular group was one of the most memorable ones, for each and every one of them, were fully present with all their senses.

It was a great pleasure hosting them, and interacting with them in such a wonderful occasion.

They had a lot of good questions, and it felt that they all came in together as one big family, although it wasn’t for sure who knew who before the gathering.

Special thanks to each one of them. They really gave us a huge push, and made us enjoy every minute we spent together.

As time progressed, the number of guests grew bigger, which added more excitement for the whole group.

It surely was a great pleasure hosting familiar faces, and also some old friends, by mere coincidence.

It was a great privilege to have had the chance of hosting not only people from the audience, but also from the great speakers, and the helpful volunteers, who played an important role in this big event.

Some of the guests helped lighten up the atmosphere, which made each session a unique one.

The hanging scroll reads 松樹千年翠 (shouju sennen no midori) which talks about the beauty of never changing green colour, of thousand year old pine trees. A note to pay attention to unchangeable beauty, which is harder than appreciating the changing things around us.

12 guests on the Tatatmi, and several others on the seats. The Mizuya (preparation room) was on red alert.

During one of the breaks, our Origami prodigy offered to prepare tea for one of our distinguished guests, who surely gave us the rare chance of enjoying a spiritual and enlightening encounter.

Musa-san, carefully preparing tea from his memory, without any instructions to guide him.

A new session is about to begin.

In any tea gathering, the main guest is expected to entertain the other guests by creating a dialogue with the host, which would reveal some interesting information, and enlighten everyone in the room.

Another memorable session, that ignited several interesting inquiries, and therefore helped in making it a unique experience for everyone.

The previous event that took place recently, gave us the chance as a group, to train on serving big numbers of guests at the same time.

We were all very impressed with the patience and endurance our guests showed while sitting on the floor.

As the day was coming to an end, more and more people were seeking the comfort of drinking tea, in a secluded area.

Everyone made a tremendous effort in keeping the flow go smoothly, even when we were at full capacity.

A full tea day, from 10:30 AM till 8:30 PM, or what we would call a Matcha Marathon. 🙂

A wonderful experience, with magnificent team work, done with much love, dedication, and true friendship.

Thanks to the impeccable team: Eguro-san, Mariam-san, Mo-san, Musa-san, and our hidden knight Tymoor-sensei, for igniting the first spark that made this event possible for all of us. And of course for giving up attending any of the talks, to document with his lens such a memorable and unique event for Chanoyu Arabia, and be there for us, as always.

Thanks to TEDxDeadSea for organising such a great event, and letting us be part of it, in this delightful way.

Thanks to all of the TEDxVolunteers who helped us tremendously. We are very proud of you, and your promising generation.

Finally, special thanks to all who came, and made us feel it was worth all the effort, and hoping the taste of this experience still lingers on in your memories, and would inspire you in one way or another.