If you are looking for a cute thing as a gift for a friend, loved one or even just for yourself it’s sometimes not so easy to know where to start looking, right? But don’t worry, that’s what we are here for. We went through our mental archive of all the shops in Berlin to find those that would fit the bill for this very purpose and came up with a cute little list of the best concept stores in Berlin that are perfect for gift shopping.
photos: Roger Sabaté.
The other week I had a little personal dream come true: My favorite Berlin musician performed for us at one of my favorite Berlin places. The occasion was the Checkout Session concert series by Danish loudspeaker brand SOUNDBOKS – and I can’t say how grateful I am to them for making this happen. In the end, it was such a sweet gathering with a stunning performance – I couldn’t be happier.
When SOUNDBOKS approached me a while ago and asked me to curate a concert event for their Checkout Sessions, it didn’t take me even a second to pick the musician. I wanted Lie Ning to perform at one of our events the moment he debuted last year, so this was the perfect opportunity. Before he came out with his wonderful debut single Tonight, I had already known him as a contemporary dancer and model – I like to say muse even – but little did I know back then how much more talent we would witness from him. The Berlin-born artist really has a lot of facets and he obviously likes to have his fingers in many pies – a desire I can absolutely relate to.
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In the last couple of years Berlin’s music scene has been cooking up so many amazing things, we’re always excited to stumble upon new talents with songs that blow us away. It feels like Berlin is really having its music moment now, and artists who are based here are getting the amount of international recognition last seen in the times of Bowie.
Danish loudspeaker brand – SOUNDBOKS – is as in love with the upcoming musicians of Berlin as we are, which is why they are hosting the Checkout Sessions this month at various cool venues all over the city, offering some much-needed live music experiences.
Geist im Glas Brunch, photo: Julia Liebisch.
Last week we already introduced you to all those great Berlin restaurants that currently deliver their lovely food to your home. Today we wanna cover all your breakfast and brunch cravings! For me, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and going to a cafe for a French Toast or Shakshuka is one of my favorite things in terms of eating out. Many cafes are completely closed right now, only a few are still cooking and offer take away, and when it comes to delivery, well, the options are even more limited. But luckily, those few options that we could find, are excellent as they are some of the best brunch and breakfast options anyway.
As with the restaurant guide, as well you have to keep in mind that some of the delivery services of the following places are brand new and might still have room for improvement, so be patient with them in these complicated times. Also, the photos don’t necessarily reflect the dishes they offer for delivery as these change on a daily bases for some places. The times and days they offer delivery also vary, so please follow the link in the text to find out more about the specifics of their delivery services.
Last Wednesday, we had a grand old time with you over at Hallesches Haus! With a generous supply of ice-cold beer sponsored by Pilsner Urquell, we’ve celebrated both the new look of our website and the launch of our very first sassy little book. It was an unforgettable night for so many reasons – even nature acknowledged it by sprinkling this winter’s first snow down on us. But don’t despair in case you couldn’t make it – now you can check out our impressions from the party!
Berlin Biennale 2016, photo: Timo Ohler *
This summer seems to be the perfect time to discover new art and cultural exhibitions in Berlin. It’s not Gallery Weekend, it’s not Art Week either, yet there are still so many interesting exhibitions going on worth checking out. Of course the biggest one of all of them is the current edition of the Berlin Biennale that takes place at multiple venues all over central Berlin. This year’s concept of the acclaimed exhibition is quite controversial, the more reason for us to go and check it out! But we also have a brand new private art collection in town that follows in the footsteps of the me Collectors Room and the Collection Boros at the former Bunker. This one found a new home in the former Konzulat, a place that will be dearly missed but is now filled with new life. For a less high-concept, more down-to-earth kind of exhibition we recommend the #LiveThere Haus, an exhibition by visual artist collective 44flavours from Berlin who took over the Hallesches Haus for a few days next week. This and much more in our new Berlin exhibition highlights guide for the summer of 2016. Enjoy!
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!
Berlin is a modern, contemporary city like any other, but in one respect it has an awfully bad reputation: Credit cards – let alone any other modern-day form of payment – not accepted! You will read this as a warning in any guide book or hear this from any visitor of the city who complains that they had to pay in cash in the restaurant, couldn’t pay with credit cards in a big electronic stores or with any card whatsoever at the cinema. Germans really seem to value cold hard cash…
But this is changing right now, we just haven’t noticed it yet! With my last visits to the IFA consumer electronics fair I have come across new forms of digital payment multiple times and I wondered, how these are already implemented in Berlin so far. I investigated a bit and made some practical tests.
One of the technologies that I found especially intriguing is the so called mobile wallet that you have on your smartphone. They exist on multiple platforms, the one being interesting for me as an Android user is called MyWallet and it’s available for free at the play app store. What it is is a digital version of your wallet that includes your credit cards, right on your smartphone. Another technology that I tested is the mobile app of Paypal that let’s you use your Paypal credit to pay in stores. More about that and my favorite stores, cafes and restaurants that offer mobile payment after the jump.
The Hallesches Haus, located inside a former post office at Hallesches Tor, is one of the most exciting concepts stores for interior design and all the beautiful things in life in Berlin. Before them there was not that much going on in terms of individualistic interior design in Berlin, but the guys behind Hallesches Haus were determined to change it. With their beautiful store they do not only offer a well curated selection of design products ranging from industrial chic, nostalgic retro classics, “cabin porn” to cute hipster items, they also have a lovely canteen and cafe attached to the store that offers contemporary breakfast and lunch and excellent coffee.
The selection of products changes all the time, so it’s worth it to go by every now and then, especially if you are looking for gifts for friends and family with good taste this place will not disappoint you. But don’t be too surprised if you end up keeping all the things you bought to yourself. We brought you some new impressions from the general store and the canteen that we took in Autumn 2017. Now there is one addition that we haven’t included in our set yet, the brand new HAY kitchen market with lots of practical little items for your kitchen from the beloved Danish design brand.
On the weekend we set back the daylight saving time to the normal time which means we’ve lost a fair share of daylight for the remainder of the year. To make up for this and not let the darkness win we are in need for some artificial light! Being a lamp enthusiast (and occasional lamp builder) this article was long overdue, but now here it is: A collection of some of the most original lamps that you can get here in Berlin. Enjoy my selection after the jump. May some of these beauties brighten your dark winter days that are coming up…