Just friends

Wednesday
Lunch by the stammtish at hip Modellhut in Mitte (serving a perfect Wiener schnitzel) with Jürgen of Rugstar, one of the world’s (yes) most interesting deliverers of innovative floorbased designs. The Ikea braille (blind-alphabet) carpets are his design, but it’s in his shop in Mulackstrasse that the real masterpieces are found. (Like the huge forest-green Nepal wool treasure I have on my floor at home, with the outline of the Berlin logo-bear in silver silk thread.) He’s had his first buy-out offer (took four years, reasonable) which he of course politely declined, but he’s on his way of making it very big.
With us at the table, hat createur Fiona Bennett. We talk about Berlin’s increasing appeal as a base for whatever innovative work you want to develop. It’s big, creative and buzzing, the standard of food and housing often fantastic, and – unlike any other world metropolis – inexpensive (where else can you get a fantastic city-centre one-bedroom flat with for under €500 without any effort?). The only drawback is that you probably won’t find your clients here, but with travel getting cheaper by the day, who cares?
Coffee with Civan, talking about starting up a network office a la United Spaces in Berlin. Let’s see…