What can you do when Berlin gives you -2 degrees in April? We decided to give ourself a break from this great city with the ass-cold (free translation of the German term arschkalt) heart and start the season of Spring properly while escaping to Milan and visit the Milan Design Week. Sounds pretty spoiled, huh?
Well to be fair and square, Milan Design Week is a posh event only in certain ways. First of all most exhibitions and events are for free and without any guestlist involved. Secondly, flights from Berlin to Milan are more than affordable even close to Design Week. But mostly I think the event is so enjoyable and down to earth because the whole city with all inhabitants are curious about it and love to spend time visiting it. So you might enjoy the giant cockring designed by Hermes next to the Italian grannies from the neighborhood, or you might be playing in the playground of Toilet Paper Magazine or Marni with toddlers and battle for the best selfie poses with Italian high school kids. And I can promise you, you won’t win that battle.
So we were spoiled with good weather, nice Aperitivos and lots of playful design but were kind enough to come back to Berlin with lots of beautiful photos by Alicia Kassebohm. So after the jump we show you our favorite design highlights and trends we picked up there.
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by Claudio | Design, Travel
photos: Alicia Kassebohm
Exploring new cities has always been a pleasure for us. We come back with a bag full of new inspiration, ideas and urban concepts that we might want to see also in our beloved hometown. Last week Alicia Kassebohm and I had the great pleasure to travel to Milan to visit the prominent Milan Design Week invited by the Belgium Design initiative: Belgium is Design. Like last year we visited The Salone del Mobile which is the biggest fair for contemporary design products and the Fuorisalone (outside Salone) the uncountable mass of side-events happening all around the city. In over 5 districts of Milan the complete neighborhood is transformed into a walkable showroom where young and upcoming designers and small manufactures present their products. This brings not only a lot of creativity to the neighborhoods but also involves the inhabitants in what is usually a very elitist topic: design. This kind of urban participation is something I really miss in all the fairs and big events happening in Berlin. So this would be something I could really imagine in a Berlin of the future. After the jump you find our favorite impressions sorted out by districts, a little art museum adventure we had and the best pieces from the exhibition of our partners from the Belgium Design Initiative.
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by Claudio | Design, Travel
Since our recent trip to Milan Claudio and I have been totally into the concept of the Aperitivo. And by that we don’t mean just the regular old Aperol Spritz, but the entire ritual of an Aperitivo that includes not only a drink but also some delicious snacks that come either as a buffet or as a platter. In Berlin we are blessed with many Italian restaurants and delis, also wine bars. But we haven’t come across a place that offers a real Aperitivo like in Italy. Well, until now at least.
Recently the new Bar Milano opened at Brunnenstraße near Rosenthaler Platz finally bringing the Aperitivo to Berlin. And how gorgeous it is! They serve the most gigantic Aperol Spritz I’ve had so far and with the passion and love for good food and drinks the owners Eya and Kappa also know how to mix it to perfection. Of course this is not the only drink they serve, as there are so many other exquisite variations of this drink as well as other classics such as the Negroni or Prosecco. Every drink is served with a platter of delicious Italian snacks with the best ingredients like Bruschetti and small Parma ham sandwiches. But there is also a variety of other dishes that you can order such as a Carpaccio of the finest Prosciutto and Parmigiano. We’ve had a little tasting of a few things from the menu and it was all absolutely amazing! Of course everything comes straight from Italy and is served in authentic Italian tradition. We definitely recommend this great new bar and can’t wait to have our next half-liter glass of Spritz. Some impressions after the jump.
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by Frank | Bars, Mitte
photos: Cristian Castelnuovo and iHeartBerlin
What makes you feel welcome in a new place, a new city or a new home? When I came to Berlin for the first time it was the free seat in the subway at Warschauer Straße waiting for me every morning to go to the university in Dahlem. I expected the subway to be a hostile and neurotic place and yet it was very relaxing for me to spend the 45 minutes just sitting there to observe the different kinds of people Berlin had to offer (and still has).
While traveling the world I discovered that there are many rituals and even traditions of welcoming strangers in a home. For the Milan Design Week that took place from April 14-19 this year we had the chance to see a very diverse and interesting interpretation of the topic. The social home sharing platform Airbnb partnered with the creative design and innovation center Fabrica to create Housewarming, an experimental exhibition celebrating simple welcoming traditions and the connection experienced by guests and hosts through sharing their home.
The exhibition took place at Palazzo Crespi, a historic and impressive private mansion that was open to the public for the first time for this year’s Milan Design Week. Embedded into the different parts of the Palazzo we discovered the installations and performances of 19 international designers who showed their versions of the welcoming traditions from their home country. Enjoy our impressions after the jump.
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by Claudio | Art, Travel
