If we’ve learned anything in the past 1,5 years is that we really really need to be more aware of our own mental health and wellbeing than ever before. Self-care was of course already a thing before the pandemic, but it certainly reached a wider audience during it due to the mental stress and isolation many of us went through.
But of course, self-care is a very subjective practice and everyone has a different understanding of it. From sharing inspirational quotes on Instagram, visiting yoga classes, or taking the time to cook a healthy dinner for one – self-care has so many faces. My personal version of self-care is taking a long bath with tinted green lights while fantasizing about hikes in the tropical jungle, and sometimes I take myself out to brunch alone. On the other hand, we have this writer who joins orgies as a form of self-care. Well, everyone to their own, right?
Our partner in crime Sophia Halamoda, with who we published the fabulous Like A Berliner book, has come out with an adorable comic about her own self-care routine, and let’s say, it is really of a different kind… But look for yourself!
Read on…
by Frank | Stories
Berlin’s nightlife and club culture have been a driving force for many young people coming to Berlin hungry for new experiences. There is so much history and intrigue about it, it’s like it has developed its own myths and stories, some of which we captured in the chapter “Party Like A Berliner” in our new book Like A Berliner that we published in collaboration with illustrator Sophia Halamoda. One of the comics from this chapter is dedicated to the different stages that you live through while waiting in the club queue. Of course, if you wait in front of a club for several hours you have way too much time to think, so some very interesting emotional states will kick in ranging from anticipation, joy, doubt, struggle, panic and of course dread when you realize you might get bounced and waited for nothing. We deciphered these stages for you and want to show you 10 of them.
The Club Queue comic is also available as a poster (70x50cm) at Hallesches Haus and Urban Spree, as well as in our webshop.
Read on…
by Frank | Party
illustrations: Sophia Halamoda.
The history of the German division and the Berlin Wall is – to put it mildly – a rather complicated one. Especially since even today, 30 years later, it still feels the country has not completely recovered from it. I was only 7 when the wall came down so I feel my memory of life in the East is pretty much seen through the eyes of a child. I don’t remember life for my family being bad in any way, we were quite happy actually. There were a lot of things we didn’t have – but also we didn’t know about them, so we didn’t miss them.
But once the two German countries re-united, it did feel like something exciting and good was happening – at first. It took us all a while to understand what was really going on. On the surface, we were re-uniting but underneath it was more of a take-over. I don’t mean it in a hostile way, and I’m not blaming either side for what had happened. It is, as I said before, more complicated than that. But in the few decades, those two parts of Germany developed so differently under such different circumstances, that throwing them together again like that was just going to cause some collateral damage. If you only look at the election results or statistics such as unemployment rates you will see a country that is maybe not as united as it should be.
Read on…
by Frank | Stories
illustrations: Sophia Halamoda.
Barbecuing on Tempelhofer Feld seems to be an inherent part of the classic Berlin lifestyle. As with most things in this town, everyone has a different vision and approach to this particular activity. This often results in a quite interesting scene made up of the most diverse Berlin inhabitants who don’t seem to have much in common other than some (however fleeting) fondness for outdoor grilling.
For her new comic, illustrator Sophia Halamoda (who some of you might know from the Berghain comic) looked at the most popular types of folks at the barbecuing area of Tempelhofer Feld – which one can you relate to?
Read on…
by Michalina | People
This female artist makes Berlin come to life in thick black lines and vibrant colors.
From Bogota to the Big B, after stops in Firenze Italy as a child, studies of fine arts and illustrations in Bogota and Madrid, Xuehka, or Xueh Magrini Troll, moved to Berlin to study visual communication at the Weißensee School of Art. Artistry runs in Xueh’s blood, she follows into the creative footsteps of her mother and grandmother as a female artist. Xueh, who calls legendary painter Frida Kahlo one of her biggest influences, has made the German capital the main source of inspiration for her lively cartoons, drawings, and sketches.
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by Andy | Art
Rory Midhani is a talented, young Berlin-based illustrator whose work centers around nightlife, sex, queerness and trans experiences. The self-described “twinkie trans boy artist’s” cartoons, drawings, and murals illustrate light-hearted, lively, and silly little scenes, but look more closely and you’ll see they’re packed with underlying social commentary. His latest work takes you into a world out of sex, parties, clubs, and cardboard puppets. If you feel ready for his hilariously explicit work, read on.
Read on…
by Andy | Art, Party
photos: Berlin Ninja
How many times haven’t we all quoted Bonnie Tyler’s ‘I need a hero!’ in this crazy crazy city: This is probably what Berlin Ninja had in mind, when he unleashed all kinds of comic and cartoon heroes and villains around Berlin, to protect or sometimes attack it.
Inspired by the city’s amazing scenery and fun stories, and guided by freeing his imagination, Berlin Ninja’s Instagram keeps, among regular Berlin shots, a place where fictional worlds, such as the Marvel universe, and Berlin collide: He sent King Kong to attack our beloved TV tower and the Victory Column, Batman to guard over Friedrichschain, and Spider Man to climb on Panoramapunkt. How well the superheroes fit in the landscape only shows how magical Berlin can be; when I first looked at the pictures it both felt like they are and aren’t real! Take that, Gotham City!
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by Stella | Photos
With the cold and wet days we’ve just experienced one thing is for sure: Winter is coming. What am I saying it’s already here! The heatings are running, and we have to face it: We will all have to suffer through months of this now. Well, at least the ones among us that don’t escape to a warm island like scared chicken! The cold season in Berlin has only just begun and if you haven’t lost your mind yet, you could still lose it in the weeks to come, even though sometimes we get thrown a bone or two with a few rays of sunshine here and there.
For those of you who want to maintain their sanity in the Winter in Berlin our Blogfabrik colleague Sophia Halamoda, who also brought as the famous Berghain, Bürgeramt and Real Berliner comics, has created a fantastic comic: A Winter Survival Guide that also explains a lot of the secrets of the grey and cold seasons and how the real Berliner deal with them.
This comic, along with a whole lot of unpublished new material is part of the new book “Like A Berliner” – a collaboration of Sophia and us. You can order it here in our webshop.
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by Frank | Stories
We’ve all been there. During summer literally all of Berlin seems packed with beautiful, super fit people hanging around semi-naked and looking like they just jumped out of a fitness-Instagram channel. The problem is, regarding your own fitness, you wouldn’t dare hang around these super humans to practice your yoga skills, running stamina or doing sit-ups. What seems annoying but nonetheless joyful in the summer becomes practically impossible during wintertime: doing sports outside. But, you might ask, how and when should you achieve your perfect summer body?
Together with the newly opened gym JOHN REED Fitness Music Club, we wrote down a series of serious (and not-so-serious) reasons why you should avoid doing outdoor sports in Berlin in winter. As an alternative, we are not only recommending you this new fitness club right in the middle of the city, but also raffling out two full-year memberships. Not bad right? Check out our little GIF series after the jump.
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by Claudio | Mitte, Stories, Wellness
illustrations: Sophia Halamoda
After how many years can you say that you are a real Berliner? Five? Maybe ten? Or maybe 20? Some people even say that only the people who were born here have the right to be called “real“ Berliners. But what about if you were born in Berlin but left at the age of 10 and never came back? Would you be a real Berliner then?
I would like this nonsense about real Berliners and not real Berliners to stop once and for all. Most of the people now living in Berlin came from elsewhere and might even leave and go somewhere else after a couple of years. The Berliner-DNA is not defined by your birth certificate, your current Geo-Tag or the length of time you have spent in this city. As kitschy as its sounds, being a Berliner is a matter of your heart.
But sometimes listening to your heart is not as easy as it sounds on paper. To give you some help in discovering the (not so) secret essence of this lovable city, we joined forces with our favorite cartoon artist Sophia Halamoda. As a creative contribution of the #LiveThere exhibition by Airbnb we created a semi-serious guide to how to become a real Berliner. Go and discover after the jump.
UPDATE (Nov 2019): If you love the illustrations and sense of humor by Sophia you will love the new book Like A Berliner that we made in collaboration with her that will get you even further into the Berliners’ way of life.
Read on…
by Claudio | Stories
