Wye Valley River Festival 2016: Samovar

It was time for tea at Hereford, Ross-0n-Wye, Lydbrook, Monmouth, Tintern Station, Llandogo and Chepstow.

And Now’s Samovar had its first outing on The Wye Valley River Festival, making and serving free tea all the way down the Wye Valley. Designed by And Now: and built by a moonshine still maker in Arkansas USA using time honored copper working skills.
A samovar is a device traditionally used to heat and boil water for tea. The word samovar is Russian and can be loosely translated into English as “self-boiler”. Our Samovar is made from pure copper with a tolerance of 0.1 impurity, it is the universal standard for distilleries, breweries and sweet manufacturers. Copper has been used for Millenia for providing safe storage for water and food production it is naturally anti microbial. Traditionally pride of place was reserved for the samovar at the table at times of festivity and celebration. A ceremony that embodied warm-hearted hospitality was centered around the Samovar. Russian people believe that samovars have souls. It was common to say that “a samovar is singing”
Of all beverages, tea alone has the proverbial power to relieve sadness and melancholy. Tea the cup that cheers . The samovar that dispenses it is a time-honoured symbol of hospitality.

As well as serving tea we designed and painted caravans that were used to house installations created by the Wye Valley community and created a number of fiery celebrations to mark the ensembles passage down the valley over a period of two weeks.

The Wye Valley River Festival is a biannual arts & environmental event in the great outdoors. The Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is the landscape it happens in.

The festival is coordinated by by the Wye Valley AONB Partnership and Desperate Men are artistic directors bringing together individual artists and companies to work  in and respond to the landscape.

The Wye Valley River Festival is an initiative of the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnership with funding from the AONB Sustainable Development Fund, a Welsh Government scheme inthe Wye Valley AONB;Arts Council of Wales, supported by the Welsh Government;Arts Council England;Environment Agency;Ross Town Council and in-kind support from, The Shire Hall, Monmouth and numerous volunteers and communities along the Wye Valley