8.8.16
LETTERS MATTERS, A LIBRARY WITH FLAVOUR
8.8.16On the 29 th of June I walked only a few steps far from Marquês do Pombal and Avenida to encounter an eye-catching event: the Let...
On the 29th of June I walked only a few steps far from Marquês do Pombal and Avenida to encounter an eye-catching
event: the Letters Matters Opening. While
I walked inside the venue I started feeling affinity with this new library, not
only for the story that was shared with me when I received the invitation, but
also for the feeling this place was giving me.
A simple space with immensities
to say. Every corner is a corner, and all of them have a different purpose
depending on its motivation or the reactions it wants to create: ‘body and soul’, ‘meditation’, ‘fascinating’
and so on.
Above all, everything started
as an endeavour to the Men of recovering
their wisdom (literature) and combating
the foolishness of today’s brain exercises and worries: social media and the
distractions associated with smartphones. This is a place to switch that button off and
find ourselves like Florentin Bosse (the
founder of Letters Matters) did while making a journey that changed his life.
 |
| Florentin Bosse |
Bosse
a Romanian born in Germany, at a point of his life decided to detach
himself from the chaos of the modern days and embraced in a journey that many defend to be overwhelming and life
changing: the famous Camino Del
Santiago. Despite of walking thousands of steps from Germany to his
destination, he did not suffer any metamorphosis.
Instead, he decided to keep walking, because the problem could be ‘not having
walked enough’. And that was what he did, he kept walking until a music stopped
him in a little Portuguese village,
which name he cannot recall. That music penetrated his heart and made a mature
man burst into tears in the middle of the street. Florentin immediately felt emotionally connected with this country
and with the caring people that in the street tried to help him and cheer him
up. As a consequence, he decided to do
something for the others… Opened a space in Lisbon where people could feel
at home.
Letters Matters does not have
the intention of being a ‘business’ as Florentin confessed to me. Above all, this must be a place for people
to connect with themselves.
The only thing that I have
left to say is: grab a book, ask for a cup of tea or a glass of wine and practice the good habit (read),
because letters matters!
Cheers!
Em