A New Chapter Unfolds Today
Today, this place embarks on a new life, offering a continuation to a long and beautiful history. A passionate collective has taken on this rebirth. Each person, with their perspective, knowledge, and sensitivity, has laid a stone to this edifice.
The Tunisian Press - A wild garden whose splendor refuses to be domesticated, a winding path where Mabrouka, the little donkey, and her chatty chicken companions await you. At the end, standing at the heart of this countryside landscape, a grand building that was once the epicenter of everything written and read in Tunisia. The historic Grafi printing press is a place that every book lover knew. It was born from a man's dream. He built this printing press, attached his house to it, spent years, nights, and a lifetime there. He designed books, artist catalogs, posters, and souvenirs. He left his breath, passion, and imagination there.
However, time and technological changes took their toll. The old machines fell silent, and the paper rolls stopped arriving.
Naceur Jeljeli, another book lover and founder of Simpact, acquired this place. Not to conquer or expand, but to collect a memory, accept, and pass on what the walls had preserved.
For years, the location remained preserved, immobile, not forgotten but waiting. The machines rusted, the walls aged, and the trees continued to grow. Seventy palm trees, unusual in the midst of this land of orange groves.
Today, this place begins a new life, offering a continuation to a long and beautiful history.
Under the name Grafiflow, it starts its second life. A passionate collective has taken on this rebirth. Each person, with their perspective, knowledge, and sensitivity, has laid a stone to this edifice. A talented architect has envisioned the scenery. A book dedicated to art, seen and presented in a different way, miraculously completed on time. Artists have agreed to exhibit even before the paint on the walls had dried. The garden has lost its wild aspect while remaining beautifully landscaped. The old printing machines have returned as elements of memory and decoration. Reading corners have been set up, and a circle of readers has been invited to hold their meetings there. A paper goods line, created by an artist, has been launched for the occasion.
A children's activity program has been inaugurated on the day of opening. And a calendar of activities, always related to books, art, and well-being, has been proposed to Grafiflow's friends.
