Cover

Editorial

My thing

»Berlin designers work like artists«

Tinkering with the future

Modern aging

Tower Power

Ideas out of hard foam

A delicate distinction

»Design and contents are inseparable«

Beauty is a matter of touch

Sightseeing tour

Sleep tight!

»I like it«

Emergency diploma

Masthead
 


MORE INFORMATION, MORE KNOWLEDGE

www.berlin-sciences.com
 

No.1//Berlin Science
No.2//Berlin Design
 

  People don’t want to confine themselves to working in an off-area anymore. They get out in the open, form networks; they increase their efforts to communicate. But you can still tell that many designs have their origin in the club and street culture of the nineties.
     How do Berlin designers present themselves to the public?
With Designmai (Design May), for example, a festival that took place for the third time this year, a platform was created that first makes many ideas and objects visible. Many participants were noticed by the media for the first time, which was something they didn’t manage by themselves before. Or Berlinomat, a store in Friedrichshain that only sells Berlin designs which bears a really important potential for distribution. Many semi-industrial or hand-crafted objects are manufactured here; they are produced only in very small numbers and therefore have no appeal for the wholesale trade.

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    Mr. Kries, is there a distinct Berlin style?
In an aesthetic sense, you can’t yet speak of an independent style. If I look at a cushion with the Berlin television tower printed on, then that’s a funny reference to the city but, for me, doesn’t translate into Berlin style. In that regard, I would rather count particular ways of thinking about design and certain approaches typical for this city.
    Which are?
As a designer here, you have to take the initiative. You can’t wait around for clients to come knocking at your door. If you did that, you’d have to wait for a long time and eventually be frustrated. That often means a Berlin designer inevitably has to work as independently as an artist. He has to consider which products and fields he’s interested in and, when he’s developed ideas, how to implement them. He doesn’t confine himself only to the task of designing, he also reflects on how to produce and market his concepts. A strong interest in technology, though handled in a very playful, very ironic way, is typical for Berlin.
     In this light, are there still product designers in the classical sense?
The boundaries are fluid. You won’t find many mere product designers here. Berlin stands for interdisciplinary action – which means, for example, designers working closely with the club scene, or architects giving thoughts to interior furnishings.
    Do companies tap into those sources of creativity?
So far, Berlin cannot be compared with Milan, where companies know they can find a special designer for any task at hand. But a certain development is already noticeable: Take for example the “media façades” at the architectural office Realities United. This isn’t architecture or design in a conventional sense but is rather based on the idea of encroaching upon existing town structures. Realities United developed this idea without a commission. Now they are designing another media façade for a large banking corporation at Potsdamer Platz.  
Is that a typical example for the development of the design scene during the last years?
Yes, the scene has definitely become more professional.