Berlin Reified

In a blur

I took this unfocused shot out the ICE window heading home from Innsbruck. It doesn't capture my days in Austria at all (they were full of sharp detail) but it does summarize life at the moment: blurred, bright. More soon.

What I’m missing/Off

Of course it's thrilling to know I'll step on a train in a few hours and step off in the Alps. I grow a little jaded, sure, but travel does still put the pink in my cheeks.

Still, why do so many exciting things have to happen while I'm gone? I'd love to visit a few farms during the Brandenburger Landpartie on June 12-13, perhaps swinging by Brodowin on the 12th to investigate their Hoffest. And I don't even know what to pick as a highlight of the Long Day of Urban Nature (the Langer Tag der Stadtnatur) on June 19-20. 500 events in 150 places! So will you go and tell me all about it?

Watch for news from Austria in a fortnight's time.

Grubentücher, Linen tea towels, or Washing up in style

 

I've admired Sgaminegg's ample linen-cotton dishtowels for so long; now I have two of my own. The tag tells me Ruhrgebiet coal miners used these Grubentücher to rub themselves clean after a hard day's work. I'm merely grateful for a kitchen towel that isn't sodden after drying three pots.

Buy your own for 3.40 EUR at the Pomeranza Design Ranch, a newish shop/cafe that has won me over with its carefully selected mix of local and European designers. They also do a mean espresso, best accompanied by one of their crumbly, not-too-sweet peanut butter cookies (a snip at 30 cents).

Pomeranza Design Ranch, Raumerstraße 19, Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg (map)
Open Mo-Fr 10am-7pm, Sa 11am-6pm
Tel. (030) 4849 5760

A day in the country (Blankenfelde)

A bit sunstruck still, just back from Blankenfelde and its Tag der offenen Höfe. The open day itself was underwhelming but I was pleased to pass this facade bearing the typographic traces of a Tante-Emma-Laden; such signs were once so common in my neighborhood too.

After sandwiches and tea at Steckenpferd we wandered through the Stadtgut Blankenfelde. This former manor, now an intergenerational commune, had beautiful jars of rhubarb-strawberry jam for sale and a huge puddle for children to splash through in their Wellington boots. I loved the ramshackle treehouses behind the kindergarten.

Steckenpferd, Hauptstraße 35, Berlin-Blankenfelde (map)
Open Tu-Fr 10am-1pm & 3pm-6pm, Sa noon-6pm, Su noon-5pm

Stadtgut Blankenfelde, Hauptstraße 28, Berlin-Blankenfelde (map)
Open to visitors every third Saturday from 3pm

The first day of summer

The sun overwhelmed my simple camera but I couldn't resist pointing the lens directly into the light. Could you believe today? I was saturated with happiness as I turned home from the market, and what bliss to discover Stefanie sitting outside her shop with a fresh pot of green tea, ready to pour me a cup.

Small caps (Letterpress in Berlin)

photo borrowed from Sabrina's Flickr stream

Longtime readers will understand my excitement on discovering Sabrina and her Berlin-based letterpress design studio Small Caps. Aren't the TV Tower and the Brandenburg Gate quite jaunty in turquoise? But I think my favorite is the World Time Clock.