Sponsored
Interior design platform MADE.com has a heart for young designers – just like we do! With their TalentLAB program, they offer their platform for upcoming product designers to present their amazing ideas. Designers from all over the world can submit their products and MADE.com will curate the best products into little collections of furniture and home accessories. People can then pledge for their favorite designs with a small deposit in a way similar to crowd-funding which secures them a special early bird price. Those products that reach their pledge goal will actually get produced by MADE.com. For those who pledged for one product that did not reach its goal, they will get a refund.
In their Berlin showroom, MADE.com is showcasing some of the TalentLAB designs that will get produced so that everyone gets a chance to get a preview of the final product. A current highlight of the latest collection titled “Ready-to-Work” is the glamorous copper Lumo Table Lamp by Emma Norlén from Hanau. Her design was actually the first one that reached its pledge goal in the new collection. Others that made it are for example a really cool side bench by Gaetano Avitabile from Italy, a beautiful brass watering can by Aaron Colfer from the UK, and a cute storage shelf by Ateliers Bah from France.
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by Frank | Design, Events
Sponsored
Can you imagine the city of Berlin without office buildings? Everybody working remotely, only having their weekly or monthly meetings at a cafe or somewhere else? This would bring the city lots of more spaces for living and more spaces for culture and creativity. Not so bad in the end, huh?
Thinking about the future, not as an obstacle but rather a variety of opportunities is the task of the upcoming speculative laboratory “The Workhouse” by design brand USM in collaboration with UNstudio.
For a period of six weeks, the innovative furniture company will create a post-work utopia in which work and life merge together. For the opening weekend on June 2nd, there will be a small conference starting the laboratory. If you want to go, it’s your lucky day since we are raffling off 2×2 tickets. Find out how below.
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by Claudio | Art, Design
photo: Neo/Craft
Germany is the country where the Bauhaus was born founded by Walter Gropius an outstanding Berliner who, among his revolutionary legacy, coined the historic quote “Form follows function”. He looked for the union between use and aesthetics. Berlin has it all, (only if it was at the sea…) so it’s not surprising that you can find really amazing designers in Berlin. The crafts have always had that strong artisan character deeply rooted in the tradition of learning from those who mastered techniques and materials. Despite that, I personally will take the liberty to think of them as true artists. But regardless of how you address them, there’s certainly one thing we will agree on: what they do is simply amazing. Because they don’t just create stunning objects, they create objects that will help you bring meaning to spaces and to learn what it means to inhabit a space. And hopefully to be able to fill that place with unforgettable and meaningful memories. Here you have 7 of our favorite furniture and product designers that work to keep Berlin’s look cool and, always, unique.
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by Amanda Artiaga | Design, People, Products
The combination of wood and metal makes your heart race, you wish that steam punk had actually been a time period and “vintage” truly is your second forename? Let us hook you up with the Mekka of industrial furniture at the one and only “Urban Industrial”, the holy hall for everything antique, unique and extremely stylish.
The brand was born out of founder Jakob Wagner’s strong passion and unmistakable talent for collecting vintage furniture from shut down factories, skillfully refurbishing them and putting them up in his store for you to fall in love with. What used to be a ballroom opposite Volkspark Hasenheide at Hermannplatz now spectacularly serves as their showroom. Upon entering it impresses you with its large space, remarkably high ceilings and grungy looking walls. With the atmosphere truly mirroring the industrial style, making a visit resembles an experience rather than just a shopping trip.
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by Franziska | Neukölln, Shops
When product designer Stefanie Grau asked me if I would like to design a piece of furniture and become part of her newly formed grey collective I was more than thrilled to say yes. She had developed a set of chairs and a table that are fully foldable thanks to a high-tech fiber that connects all the parts. The idea is that when you fold the chairs or the table into its flat form they become canvases. So they are not only practical and easily stored, they can also become decorative items on your walls.
With a design so universal and minimal it really felt like the sky is the limit. Fellow collective members 44flavors created a quite colorful pattern, while Sara Parsons decided to go for a minimal design with lines and curves. Stefanie herself also designed a few sets going for subtle color surfaces and gradients.
For my own surface design I decided to do something very Berlin, giving a reference to one of the most iconic things we have here: Our yellow subway. I picked up the color palette and also created a version of the iconic blue and red seat pattern that incorporates yet another famous Berlin symbol (I detail which I dare you to find yourself!).
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by Frank | Design, Products
photo: Karsten Hintz
Probably the best thing about Berlin is the fact that it’s so diverse that no matter what you’re interested in, you can find a whole bunch of places here that will enable you to pursue your passion. Same goes for design – apart from such amazing examples of outstanding architectural thought like the Martin Gropius Bau or the St. Agnes Church, there’s also plenty of museums devoted to the subject, like the Bauhaus Archive or the Kunstgewerbemuseum. You can also get inspired by new initiatives of people who’re keen on creating beautiful and functional things, like the guys from Fundamental Berlin or LLot LLov. More about them and similar suggestions after the jump!
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by Michalina | Art, Museums
During my Art Direction and Design Studies I read a lot about timeless design. Is this a real phenomenon or is minimal design for instance just a passing fad and we only consider it today as kind of timeless? It’s definitely not as easy to define as one might think in the beginning. When reading more about „timelessness” and sustainable materials you cannot get around the most obvious one of all: Wood. There is a reason why it is one of the oldest and most commonly used, still beloved materials. It is even said that surrounding yourself with a lot of (mostly untreated) wood is good for your health and lowers blood pressure. Read on…
by Alicia | Design, Misc., Products
photo: Alex Alvisi / CC
Somewhere among the many idiomatic expressions that you may encounter in Germany there’s this one that translates to “not have all your cups in the cupboard”. Its meaning is supposed to convey the notion that the said person is a bit weird, and both this and the literally meaning apply to a lot of Berliners I know. In fact, these two characteristics seem to be connected.
It is indeed hard to remain a calm and collected person when you are in a constant state of uncertainty about your flat, let alone the condition of your crockery if you happen to possess some. In Berlin, someone is always hunting – and the reasons vary tremendously. Some have had their contracts suddenly terminated, some seek cheaper rent, others cannot stand their flatmates. You just can’t prepare to avoid all of the possible housing disasters – even if you resolve on sticking with your new place at literally all costs – you still may end up having to send out endless e-mails via wg-gesucht.
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by Michalina | Stories
photos: ourfoodstories
Making furniture has always been a dream job for me. My dad is quite handy when it comes to working with wood, he learned a lot from his father who was a carpenter, and so he also taught a couple of things to me. I think it was a pleasure for him to see that I picked up on it and it gives him great joy to give me tools and machines for Christmas. In fact, even without having studied design or going through a practical education, I have designed and built quite a few pieces of furniture and interior objects in my life. But I never turned it into my main profession. Shame, really.
It comes naturally that I have always admired people who make furniture. There is something fundamentally sexy about creating something beautiful with your hands from raw materials. Of course the character of Aidan from cult TV show Sex and the City, the heart-throbbing furniture designer that the main character Carrie has dated over the course of a couple of seasons, has added to the idolized prototype of a furniture maker.
When I discovered the furniture label Nutsandwoods from Berlin and read the story of its founder Philipp Roessler I felt a similar sense of admiration. Here is a man who had a plan: I want to make a table of raw, natural materials that will last longer than a life and that looks super cool and timeless. (Goes and makes such table. Bam!) He basically only wanted to make this table for himself, but with incoming requests from friends and acquaintances he started to produce more, went into serial production and added more furniture designs such as benches, couch tables, chairs, shelves, lamps and other smaller accessories to his portfolio. The label Nutsandwoods was founded and now, years later, he designs not only for people’s homes, but also for shops, showrooms and trade shows. As his latest addition to the collection he designed lounge chairs from steel and fine leather, a couch and a sideboard, all of which with his signature style and favorite material: local oak tree and steel.
You can find the designs from Nutsandwoods here in Berlin at Hallesches Haus.Go check it out!
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by Frank | Design, Products
photos: Christoph Sagel
The Karl-Marx-Allee in Mitte and Friedrichshain used to be the prestigeous shopping promenade of the GDR. But after the wall came down – probably even before that – it kind of lost its appeal and now only hosts a couple of shops that are kind of insignificant (except maybe BoConcept). But now the street has a new pearl that we can’t wait to tell you about: Coroto is a brand new high quality vintage furniture and interior store that opened recently at Frankfurter Tor in Friedrichshain. The spot is a little bit unusual, but I am sure with a concept as beautiful and sharp they will find their audience and vice versa.
They describe their store concept as “Tropical Living” – we describe it simply as “gorgeous”. They offer a mix of high quality vintage furniture and interior objects with European origins from the 50s to 80s. All of them are in impeccable condition and beautifully refurbished. To bring the tropical element in they combine it with ethnical handcrafts, ceramics and home textiles from India and South America which works wonderfully. It was certainly a great inspiration to completely redecorate my entire house. Especially the ceramic lamps are to die for. Enjoy some fabulous impressions and the details after the jump.
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by Frank | Friedrichshain, Shops
