Nicolas Defawe
After our interviews with Berlin city shapers PANSY from Yo! Sissy Festival and Yasha Young from Urban Nation we are coming to the third and final part of our interview series that is inspired by Heineken’s Shape Your City campaign. While the winners of The Cities Project are already working to make their bar concept a reality in the beautiful city of Cologne, we had a chat here in Berlin with our latest interview partner Nicolas Defawe. If his name doesn’t ring a bell for you, you might know some of the amazing spaces that he was and is involved in such as the awesome, but sadly closed HBC, the short-lived +-0 in the old Postbahnhof building, and the Urban Spree gallery at the RAW area.
Nico is one of the people in the alternative cultural scene of Berlin that we have collaborated with a lot over the years with many of the events we did with iHeartBerlin and its sister project Designer Scouts. It was always such a pleasure to work with him because he has such a positive and supportive spirit and he is the type of guy that you can easily go and steal horses with (this is a funny expression we like to use in German that means that someone is game with just about anything). In our interview with him and his Urban Spree partner Pascal Feucher we revisited some of the old places and looked into the future for the current one…
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by Frank | People
photos: Anna Rafeeva
Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you’re perfectly free. – Rumi
Sometimes, no matter how hard the surroundings – all you can do is dance. There are enough reasons no matter what the situation. Seems odd? But you can move forward lightly even on the hardest grounds. All you need is the right inner rhythm.
The photographs of Anna Rafeeva are dreamy, soft and powerful – what better location to place them then good old, rugged Berlin? In the midst of Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg, the photographer captured a Ballerina flying through Berlin and dancing away in front of colorful walls. See the beautiful shots right after the jump. Read on…
by Yasmin | Photos
photos: Alicia Kassebohm
Especially when we are overwhelmed with work, when something significant changes in our life, or when we simply leave our usual surroundings to a new place, this is when we notice our most valuable asset: time.
In Friedrichshain you have time to get lost, as well as time to find something you didn’t know you were looking for. It is a place for nostalgia, for living in the moment, but also for seeking the future. It is an unfinished place, where one of time’s most significant effects becomes very obvious: change.
You definitely notice that unfinished character just by walking down Warschauer Straße, seeing all the construction works, graffiti and improvised shops and galleries. It’s always in progress, always changing. But this is what makes it special, what makes all of Berlin special.
The new label Lilienthal Berlin wants to capture exactly this spirit with their brand new watch, representing the individualistic and unique character of the city that is always in between a state of tranquility and movement. The iconic design symbolizes both the diverse history, but also its colorful present and future with subliminal details and aesthetic quotes of the city. With the exchangeable leather wristbands and color options of the body and face, it is adaptable to its wearer as the city itself.
To celebrate the launch of today’s exclusive pre-sale of their first model – the Lilienthal Berlin L1, which comes in a limited edition of 1440, all designed in Berlin and manufactured in Germany – the label sent us on a 24h tour to explore our favorite places in Berlin. We took the watch with us on our way through Friedrichshain, always with the time on our side. Enjoy our highlights after the jump!
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by Alicia | Bars, Cafés, Friedrichshain, Galleries, Products, Restaurants, Shops
