KAILI BLUES
In Kaili, a small town in China’s Guizhou province, Chen Sheng, a former prisoner now working as a doctor, lives a quiet, withdrawn life in a modest clinic alongside Doctor Oat. When he discovers that his impulsive and debt-ridden brother Wildcat has secretly sold Chen’s young son, Weiwei, to a man living in Zhenyuan, Chen sets out on a journey to find him. What begins as a concrete search slowly transforms into a drifting passage through time and consciousness. Along the way, Chen enters the mysterious village of Dangmai, a place where time seems to fold in on itself, dissolving the boundaries between past, present, and future. Here, reality becomes porous. Encounters feel suspended between memory, dream, and premonition: a young hairdresser echoes a lost love, a drummer marks the rhythm of passing time, and familiar faces appear like reflections of possible lives. Rather than following a linear narrative, the film unfolds as a cinematic poem, guided by sensation rather than logic. Reality blends with imagination, and the journey becomes inward as much as outward. As Chen wanders through landscapes shaped by memory and longing, he confronts what has been lost, what remains unresolved, and what may still be saved. At its core, Kaili Blues is a meditation on time as a fluid, unstable force, on dreams as parallel realities, and on the fragile line that separates the real from the imagined.
INSIGHT & CULTURAL TENSION
Our project exists at the intersection of Chinese tradition and French sensibility. The tea made with mycelium, inspired by ancestral rituals, invites slowness, presence, and reflection, while the design and approach carry a French taste for contrast, subtlety, and atmosphere. By combining these influences, we offer more than a beverage: it is a shared experience, a moment where time softens, perception expands, and attention turns inward. The tea becomes a passage, both intimate and communal, where cultures meet, merge, and dialogue through ritual, taste, and contemplation.
BRAND STORYTELLING
Our tea house is conceived as a threshold, a place where time loosens its grip and perception begins to shift. Inspired by the dreamlike landscapes of Kaili Blues, where past, present, and future quietly dissolve into one another, we imagine tea as a ritual of inner travel. Here, drinking is not about stimulation, but about attention, slowness, and listening. Mushrooms stand at the heart of our universe as a symbol rather than an effect. They embody what grows in the shadows, connecting earth and consciousness, memory and imagination. Like dreams, they follow no straight line. They expand softly, underground, unseen. In this space, time is fluid. Reality and reverie overlap. Each cup invites a pause, an opening, a moment where the mind can wander without direction. There is nothing to achieve, nothing to escape, only a gentle crossing inward. Our tea house is not a destination, but a passage: a place to sit, to drink, and to let the dream quietly unfold.
LOGO
ZHI comes from the Chinese language, carrying layered meanings related to knowledge, awareness, and inner movement. This openness reflects our vision of tea not as a product, but as a passage, an experience meant to be felt rather than explained. The vertical layout of «Maison du Thé» draws from traditional Chinese writing, inviting the eye to slow down and move upward, in a more contemplative rhythm. The visual identity is intentionally dark and restrained, echoing a French sensibility rooted in depth, contrast, and introspection. Between cultures, ZHI becomes a space where tea, time, and attention quietly align.
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