The Real Tea Series: GRIOT is a year-long cultural storytelling experience curated and hosted by Carlita Scarboro-Vazquez through CVaz Designs. Inspired by the tradition of the griot—the keeper of memory, history, and community—the series explores how stories are preserved and reimagined through art, engineering, technology, design, wellness, and cultural exchange.
The project transforms the library into a living archive where immersive installations, projection mapping, workshops, artist talks, and community collaborations merge the past, present, and future. Through interdisciplinary experiences, The Real Tea highlights how innovation and creativity can coexist as tools for storytelling, empowerment, and collective memory.
RSVP for here the program at Central Library by June 27 at 2:00 PM!, opens a new window
About the Host
Carlita Scarboro-Vazquez is an Atlanta-based mixed media artist, educator, and creative technologist whose work bridges visual storytelling, digital media, installation art, coding, projection mapping, and cultural memory. She is the founder of CVaz Designs and STEAM by CVAZ, where she integrates art, engineering, and technology into community-centered educational experiences. Carlita is also the founder and host of The Real Tea Series: GRIOT. Read more about Carlita Scarboro-Vazquez here, opens a new window.
Connect with Carlita Scarboro-Vazquez and The Real Tea Series on Instagram at @c_u_sunshine, her website at cvazdesigns.com, Linktree @cvazart, or email at steambycvaz@gmail.com, opens a new window.
About the Guest
Rochelle Porter is an interior designer. She has never met a blank surface she didn’t want to draw on. A lifelong lover of global design traditions, the Atlanta-based artist and designer takes cues from her Caribbean roots, the stark simplicity of Scandinavian design, and West African weaving techniques to create luxury wallpaper and vibrant textiles for hospitality, commercial, and residential interiors. Her patterns feature unexpected bursts of color and classic motifs with a fresh, modern twist.
True to her brand’s tagline, “Design for Abundant Living,” Rochelle aims to infuse joy into everyday objects, making even the mundane extraordinary. She believes everyone who interacts with her products should experience abundance and beauty, from the production team to the end user. To that end, Rochelle Porter Design prioritizes sustainability, ethical manufacturing, and the use of organic materials whenever possible.
Rochelle is the winner of the International Interior Design Association’s 2025 Anna Hernandez Luna Textiles Award, a 2026 Tory Burch Fellow, and a Workshop at Macy’s alum. Her work has been featured on the Today Show, Oprah Magazine, BuzzFeed, Essence, House Beautiful, and a host of other media outlets. Her home accessories collections have been sold at West Elm, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Wayfair, and more.
Connect with Rochelle Porter on her website www.rochelleporter.com, opens a new window and Instagram @rochelleporterdesigns, opens a new window.
For information about this program, the Central Artist Corner residency program, and adult programming at Central Library, email Vikki Walters at vikki.walters@fultoncountyga.gov, opens a new window.
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