Staying Wild & Authentic
- Lorela Lohan
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
A Conversation with Anna, Founder of ANMO ART/CHA, Düsseldorf
Introduction
When we met in December in her amazing artistic tea space, and then in January, we didn’t just talk about tea. We spoke about art. About Italy. About women, freedom, responsibility, and the quiet violence of conformity. Tea was there — not as a topic, but as a medium.
What follows is not just an interview. It is a fragment of a long conversation between two “untamed” souls loving deeply, tea and not only.
There was a familiarity in talking with Anna, as knowing her and her energy for a long time.
Lorela: Where does tea sit in your daily life?
Anna: There is no part of my life where tea is not present. But that doesn’t mean I carry a teapot everywhere.
In the beginning, yes — you want to bring tea everywhere. To the beach. Hiking. On trips. But at some point, you understand: tea should not be a burden. It should make life more enjoyable, not more stressful.
Now, I swim in the ocean. I sit with nature. And later, in the garden, I drink tea and focus on the tea. Presence matters.
Over the years, tea, art, and martial arts stopped being separate parts of my life. They aligned. The principles are the same. It’s no longer “now I do tea, now I do art.” It’s one approach.
And tea doesn’t feel like a ritual I must schedule. It flows from morning until night. Some days I drink five teas. Some days none. Like life — it moves.
Lorela: ANMO doesn’t feel like a shop. It feels like a space with intention. How did your philosophy shape it?
Anna: It is a shop. But not in the typical way.
I opened ANMO because I was tired of waiting for permission — from galleries, from markets, from systems. In the art world, you wait to be invited. To be validated.
With ANMO, I created my own space. A place where what I find important can exist — visibly, physically, experientially.
The shop has regular opening hours. Anyone can walk in. And that changes everything.
In my studio, art is enclosed. Personal. With the shop, coincidence enters. People meet. Conversations happen that could never be planned.
That is the beauty.
Tea, like life, unfolds in presence. If the space exists, moments can happen.
Lorela: Your sourcing feels deeply personal. How do you choose the teas you work with?
Anna: Everyone wants “the best tea.” But what is “best”? That depends on your values.
I didn’t study economics. I studied art. I am terrible with numbers. If I tried to compete like a classic business, I would be unhappy — and it would show.
So I decided: no compromise on quality. Take the risk. Believe in utopia.
For years now, I’ve worked exclusively with small, intentional productions — teas made with care, in limited quantities. It’s like cooking for your family versus cooking for 500 people.
Yes, margins are small. Yes, it is difficult. Yes, I might draw my own labels and design everything myself. My son takes photos. We do things we could be paid for — for free.
But if I included every real cost, the tea would be unaffordable. I want people to drink it — not just look at it.
So sourcing for me is about alignment. About working with people whose values I can represent honestly.
Lorela: You often speak about authenticity. How does that play out in the tea space?
Anna: I don’t try to be elegant. I don’t try to perform “the right way” of brewing tea.
Tea today is often sold as ritual — silence, perfection, meditation. But if the tea is proper, it makes you calm anyway.
You don’t need to meditate over tea. Tea can bring you into that state naturally.
Authenticity is more important than aesthetic conformity. I can be loud. Direct. Expressive. Then quiet. Then wild again.
People leave ANMO saying, “It feels authentic.” That is the greatest compliment.
Lorela: How does being an artist influence how you run ANMO?
Anna: Art has to follow its own purpose. No compromise. No pleasing.
Tea, however, has its own purpose too.
I would never use tea just to make mediocre art. And I would never turn tea service into performance just to call it “art.” Yes, because I am an artist, the atmosphere in the shop has performative aspects. But that is not a staged concept. It is lived.
Tea influences my art indirectly. It makes me more resilient. My senses sharpen. I see colour differently. I take more time before deciding.
But I don’t mix the fields artificially. Each deserves its own integrity.
Lorela: We spoke about female energy, autonomy, and not being “tamed.” How does that connect to your work?
Anna: Because tea culture, like many traditions, can romanticise a certain image of women — modest, silent, decorative.
I refuse that box.
Female energy is like the ocean. Calm one moment. Wild the next.
We fought for freedom. We cannot retreat into being controlled again — financially, socially, emotionally.
Authenticity is political. Even in tea.
If I brew tea loudly, laughing, speaking — that is just as valid as silence.
Tea is contemporary. It evolves.
Lorela: You close ANMO for five weeks every summer to return to Calabria. Why is that important?
Anna: Because you cannot go deep if you never stand still.
For 45 years, since my birth, I’ve returned to the same place in Calabria. Same stones. Same sea. But every year it is different — because I am different.
There is no entertainment. No stimulation. Just land, air, sea.
Silence is dangerous for systems that depend on distraction. In silence, you start thinking. You see what matters.
Tea and Calabria share something: depth without spectacle.
Lorela: Do you see tea as an obsession?
Anna: Obsession exists in everything I do.
I grew up with art. Tea entered my life gradually — herbal infusions as a teenager, discipline as a snowboarder, and later kung fu cha alongside martial arts.
There is a layer — something difficult to name — that I experienced in Asia through tea and martial arts. A state. A condition. A charged presence.
That layer exists in art, too. Maybe that is the connection.
Lorela: How do you balance motherhood, partnership, and this uncompromising artistic life?
Anna: There is no perfect balance.
When you have children, you put their well-being above your own ambitions. That is not conservatism. That is just bare responsibility.
I sacrifice financial potential. I close the shop when I need to. I design my opening hours around my children.
People don’t see that sacrifice.
But I prefer to be happy rather than rich. And if my children grow into emotionally stable human beings, that is a contribution to society.
Lorela: What is next for ANMO?
Anna: Ideas always come — tea evenings with hip-hop DJs, calligraphy workshops, spontaneous collaborations.
But I’ve learned not to over-conceptualise.
If something grows naturally, I follow it.
I don’t want ANMO to become an event machine. It must remain a living space.
Tea. Conversation. Coincidence. That is enough.
Lorela If you could summarise ANMO in one sentence?
Anna:
Stay authentic. Drink good tea. And don’t let anyone tame you.
Comments