Nothing soothes the Portland winter blues quite like a hot cup of tea with a friend. Amir Morgan hopes he can foster those moments of connection at his new tea and clothing shop, Barnes and Morgan.
Located in Old Town at 131 N.W. Second Ave., Barnes and Morgan is a combination of Morgan’s mother’s maiden name and his father’s name. Morgan hopes his cafe can be a place where people can try new teas, experiment with self expression through clothing and feel connected to something larger than themselves.
Morgan said he grew up in the South, which is known for its signature sweet tea. It wasn’t until he traveled to places like Sri Lanka and Taiwan for his work with Nike as a kids footwear materials designer that he was exposed to herbal teas and found power medicinally and communally in them.
“I used to say my goal in life was to create experiences in every country in the world, and Nike opened up the bug of travel,” Morgan said. “And coming here to this space and wanting to create experiences, that was the bug of executing on ideas. And now it is like, OK, how do you bring those together in the sense that (Barnes and Morgan) is able to sustain itself?”
Tea wasn’t always something Morgan knew he wanted to have in his side project, though. Fashion has always been a love of his, and before he even began his career he began designing his signature bespoke suit.
Through imagining a mashup of a traditional three-piece suit mixed with one-piece overalls, Morgan began working on designs for wearable art pieces in 2008. He held an art exhibit at the Portland Art Museum’s Fields Sunken Ballroom in 2015, and saw it as another way he could bring people together through art.
Barnes and Morgan was always going to be the name of his clothing store, Morgan said, and his later affinity for tea became a natural side piece to the clothing due to its similar connecting nature.
“Clothing is something that I'm attached to, so in that sense that was always going to be an attachment more than a commitment. So that's when I started looking at what is Barnes and Morgan grounded in beyond the clothing piece?” Morgan said. “And that's where the tea was added, because I was originally going to do juice, but that doesn’t relate back, there’s no connection there.”
He bought the storefront in April 2021, and worked for more than two years to do the renovation work himself out of his own pocket and through Prosper Portland. The front of the cafe's muted and natural color palette holds the tea part of the business, and behind a curtain is the threads side where he hopes to sell and showcase his handmade suits.
As the business blossoms, Morgan hopes to hold community nights as well as tailoring appointments in the back of the cafe. More than anything though, he hopes he can introduce people to their new favorite tea, or at the very least help them find ones they don’t like.
“You don’t have to finish it, but I want you to at least try it,” Morgan said.
