Europe // Berlin, Germany

We flew directly from Amsterdam to Berlin, hopped on a train and arrived at our lovely hotel where we set up camp for about a week. We stayed in a pretty sweet apartment hotel in the center of Mitte, a pretty cool district on the East side of Berlin. Arash and I are both students of art, design, photography and film with an insane appreciation for great modern design, graphic, and historic art too…and Berlin had it all. It was ultra modern yet had a great contrast between old and new, with the rich historic elements and the new art sprinkled throughout it. Berlin was probably one of our favorite locations and we both agreed that if we spoke German (or if we ever learn) we’re moving to Berlin. 

A museum dedicated to old type? Are you kidding? I was in heaven. The Typography Museum, Buchstabenmuseum, was a little hole in the wall gem, a must see for any graphic designer. I wanted, so badly, to take it all home with me and decorate my walls but I did get to take a cute little “d” that’s now hanging up in our studio. There were bookstores like this one that sucked us in for hours. We found this amidst a walk around our neighborhood, Buchhandlung Walther Konig, a dream bookstore. Every book was a work of art. Photography, fashion, illustration, graphic design, typography, film, art mags, interior design, you  name it…oh man I miss it. I did order some killer photography books and magazines from the shop after we got home — I’m such a sucker for print, can’t get enough! This was our morning coffee/brunch stop. Kaffeemitte was just around the corner from our hotel and had the most amazing coffee and sandwiches. Not to mention, the design was super modern, of course, and that branding? Loved it. One thing we loved about where we stayed was the local scene and vibe was just super young and felt so up-and-coming. A couple days out of the week, we shopped and ate the most amazing chocolate crepes and hearty sausages at the local farmers market in Mitte. We found one guy who was selling old art prints and maps from the 1900’s, definitely a cool find.We couldn’t go to Berlin without visiting historic landmarks. Arash and I both have this weird fascination with World War 2 so needless to say, at one point, we were like two school kids on a field trip. ha! Visiting the Holocaust Musuem was probably the most moving for us both. Underneath these giant cement blocks, underground, was a museum that told a very sad yet touching story of the Holocaust. These blocks were designed to represent graves, covering a whole city block in the center of Berlin. It was beautifully designed yet a bit haunting to walk through the rows upon rows.

I could probably could dedicate a post to the graffiti in Berlin, alone…there was so much of it. From the 1970s to 1989 the west side of the Berlin wall was home to graffiti paintings and wall newspapers. Since the fall of the wall, Berlin is home to a huge community of graffiti artists from all over the world. The buildings and old walls are covered in some of the coolest graffiti art I’ve seen. There was one particular alley way that was an off shoot from the main strip of shops and restaurants and as walked further and further into it, we were pleasantly surprised by the collection of graffiti that completely covered the entire space. All over Berlin, set in random little spots in different city districts, lived these newly renovated yet really old photo booths, called Photoautomats. We just couldn’t resist jumping in as many as we could find! Can’t wait to go back to Berlin some day. We most definitely left a piece of our heart in Mitte.