The Straußberger Platz in Berlin-Mitte

I ring the bell, the door opens and Müller welcomes me fawning. Müller is a truly cute, black-white-fury, French bulldog and is used to the current stream of visitors. Most of the guests, who are giving themselves the handle at Straußberger Platz in Berlin-Mitte, are refugees, who Mueller’s master grants his private rooms to. By now, the warm-hearted man already hosted 54 people from eleven nations in his 112 square meters design flat. “I actually have a screw loose”, describes Andreas Tölke himself and his willingness to help. “I don’t know the people. Who knows, maybe you’ll get assassinated in your sleep.” Andreas Tölke grins and sips at his glass of water.

Bulldog Müller presents his toy. Tölke discovered chair and table with green felt at Villa Harteneck

Tölke, who is a confessed dyslexic, studied social worker, experienced waiter and proven model booker earns his money nowadays as demanded journalist with portraits about people, art and architecture – inter alia for ‘Welt am Sonntag’ and the ‘Lufthansa Magazin’. The passionate writer finds interviews with actors tedious. “They already talk enough and don’t have to say something to everything”, finds Tölke, the storyteller. “Sarah Jessica Parker was one of the few exceptions, as she has something to tell. But I don’t want to ask Iris Berben, how she’s coping with her age.”

Andreas Tölke in front of the original DDR-cupboard by architect Irene Henselmann, whose husband significantly designed the Karl-Marx-Allee and besides drafted the Television Tower

When Tölke, who originally comes from the Weserbergland, moved into his apartment at Straußberger Platz ten years ago, the area was dominated by vacancy. Nobody – and certainly nobody from the East – wanted to go there. How can you actually live here? This was a question even his estate agent asked him and noticed the background noise by the steady traffic stream. You get used to everything, says Tölke. By now the rents at Straußberger Platz increased twice and there’s a long waiting list of architecture fans that would love to move into the former showcase of the DDR. The longest, connected housing ensemble of the Karl-Marx-Allee already has a landmark status for a long time.

The living room: the big sofa by Armani Casa stands opposite the daybed. The floor lamp is by Serge Mouille, the table by Noguci, the pillows by Calvin Klein

Three rooms, kitchen, bathroom are the involvement of Tölke’s refugee-approved hideaway, which welcomes the guests in an entrée with a size of 18 square meters. 3 and a half meters big walls and double doors, originally obtained details like parquet flooring and Bakelite-handles: “Where does this still exist?” rejoices Tölke and pensively looks at the Berlin Television Tower, which rises directly in front of his window and looks especially attractive in the noon sun. And he admits: “For other apartments I’m definitely filthy.”

The sight of Benno Kraehahns ‘Namenloser Frauenakt’ (listless act of women) probably irritated one or another refugee: “I explained them, that here, nobody is upset with the sight of naked women.” At the kitchen table are chairs in a DDR design, a “stolen Panton-Version”. “There are no pressed table linen,” explains Tölke his men- and dog household. “And as long as I don’t have my dream table by Saarinen, the creased blanket will stay on the table!”

Tölke also fell in love with the house community that consists out of 120 neighbors. Here everybody knows everybody, one greets and one talks with each other. There’s a little exchange platform on the heating in the corridor. Things somebody doesn’t need anymore make someone else happy. From sweets to books or Christmas decorations. His hospitality towards refugees mobilized the neighborhood. Doors also open now for asylum seekers. “It works”, summarizes Tölke. “And it doesn’t cost a lot of effort and collects karma points.” BvH

Collecting karma points

This is Müller in front of his – sad to say – empty, but therefore chic, luxury feeding bowls by the designer Paul Smith, who personally sent them to Müller

Office-atmosphere

“This looks like a Bauhaus-furniture, doesn’t it?” comments Andreas Tölke on his black desk. He found the 70s lamp at a flea market, the chair ‘Softpad’ is from Eames

The legendary ‘Wingchair’, above an quarrel by Carla Primera

“The revolutionary trash is from China”, explains Tölke the ceramic figures. “Nowadays for sure a lot worth, but back then I got it for a very low price.”

“I allow everyone onto my Recamiere – exceptionally. But only as long as I want it to happen”, says Andreas Tölke. “I have to admit: I love luxury.” Next an ‘Artemide’-lamp in front of a picture by Munoz Balda

“I love luxury.”

Room with a coveted view: The Berlin Television Tower

Mister Tölke and Müller bed themselves in their bedroom on a modell by Ligne Roset, the sidetables are from Lambert, the table lamps by Tobias Grau

Above the ‘Swan-Chair’ in the corridor by Arne Jacobsen an aquarell by artist Oda Jaune

Art by Jörg Immendorff and Pjotr Nathan

Picture with pistol right next to Oliver Mark, on its left you can see works by Uwe Arens, the 50s lamp is a discovery from Munich

Also the apartment doors are original obtained in the house at Straußberger Platz

Contact and Infos:

beanangel.direct/

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Beautiful staircase

He is good looking, speaks five languages fluent – Portuguese, Italian, French, English and German – lived in Milan and Paris. Sammy Voigt was born in Brazil, in the small site called Rio Grande near the Argentinian boarder. His grandfather, a German from Bremen, came to South America after the World War II.  After school Sammy studied marketing in Rio where a photographer at the beach scouted him. Shootings for Vogue Italia and Uoma Vogue followed: the beginning of his modelling-career and his life out of his suitcase. Since twelve years Sammy jets around the world, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York. At shows of international Fashion weeks he runs for Valentino, Yamamoto and Gautier. He comes to Germany, visits mother and brother in Munich. And then he decides to temporarily stay. Sammy does a German course, as in his childhood one did not speak a lot of German. Berlin is his base for five years now, a little side road, near the Hackescher Markt. In Berlin the successful model uses the chance to dare something new. He designs the fabrics for an old-established tie-manufactory. Now he founded his own label: Infinity.

Designer Sammy Voigt in his Berlin apartment in Mitte district

MyStylery: When I have a look around your apartment, you seem to be pretty busy at the moment…
Sammy Voigt: (laughs) Sorry for the chaos, I am working on a new collection!

Sammy works on his new Infinity collection. Its message: no stagnation, but to always stay in motion

MS: How do you become a designer as a model?
SV: I always had an interest for fabrics and design. Then in Berlin I got to know the Edsor-tie-manufactory. At first I was responsible for the concept of the store, then increasingly for the fabric design – an exercise that I learned step by step.

Photo from Sammy’s model career

MS: And now you have your own brand.
SV: Indeed, I founded Infinity in July last year. Infinity stands for best, but payable quality. Scarfs and foulards cost from hundred Euro, dress handkerchiefs 29 Euro. People do not want to spend much for accessories, as they already do it for clothes and shoes (laughs).

In this moodboard Sammy Voigt collects ideas for the new Infinity collection

MS: Where do your ideas of your drafts come from?
SV: I am researching the actual trends and I am thereby able to slip the zeitgeist in. Pictures and travels inspire me as much as a museum visit or an art catalogue. Out of all these details I create a ‘mood board’ as a base for the design team, that agrees with me together on the final design in Como. Concerning fabric qualities, Italians cannot be overcome.

Available are the accessories already in noble boutiques in Los Angeles, Monte Carlo, Cannes and in the famous ‘Bon Marché’ in Paris. In Germany you can receive them via his online shop

“The apartment is only 55 square meters big”, says Sammy Voigt. “I like small apartments, they convey a feeling of comfort.”

MS: Which parts involve your collection?
SV: Ties and bow ties, but especially scarfs out of wood, silk, cashmere and also wool, which – based on a new technique – are eco-friendly weaved and dyed. This means that we relinquish unhealthy chemistry and instead choose Chitosan, which is gained out of seafood. The good thing is that everyone needs scarfs, whether you are 18 or 80 years old.

Sammy bought the black and white pillows on the couch in Portugal, as he loves color-constellations like black-white and grey-and taupe-tones

MS: You took over the apartment mostly with its already existing furniture. Do you still feel home?
SV: I do not really have a home. Home is where I currently stay. I think that there is no real ideal place and am therefore always making compromises. I like to travel and that is what I am doing for over twelve years now. Property would only bother me. Everything I own has to fit into to suitcases. BvH

On the picture on the left you can see Sammy. Next to him Kate Moss with a similar body language: “I admire her a lot”, says Sammy about the supermodel

The kitchen is a made to measure out of cherry wood

The bed and the chinese lettering are both chinese antiques

With his pictures and photographies Sammy brings something personal into the otherwise furnished apartment

Star photographer Michel Comte took pictures of Sammy’s first Infinity collection

The old apothecary cabinet comes from the Berlin interior store “Zeitlos” and was painted by matching the color of the bed

Beautiful Art Déco lamp

Magnificently details in this Berlin Mitte-staircase

Beautiful stucco detail

Contact:
www.infinity.boutique

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“It’s raining” by Oh-Seok Kwon, 2015, Artist Stone, Goldleafs

Berlin has been enriched by a new art hotspot: Last week, art expert Isabel Bernheimer and her Agency for Contemporary Art opened the exhibition “Who Cares” in her new showroom vis-à-vis the Bode Museum and the Museumsinsel Berlin. On 600 square meters, in eleven rooms Bernheimer presents more than 150 works by eight international artists at the residence Monbijou.

This crown of thorns shaped Igor Vucic from shrapnel of the former war zone of Ex-Yugoslavia: “Ring”, 2011

The exhibition “Who cares?” represents the question of social responsibility and expresses this in the shown exhibits. Igor Vucic formed a crown of thorns out of old shrapnel, which he found in the former civil war regions of the Ex-Yugoslavia.

No cynicism, but an auxiliary test: “SOS Trolley” by Dirk Biotto, a portable emergency shelter for the homeless

With his “SOS Trolley”, Dirk Biotto created a mobile emergency tent; a protective cover for the homeless. The painted surfaces of the images of Milana Schoeller are provided with fine cobweb-like Krakelees that remind of breaking ice – as a warning sign of climate change.

“Origin” by Milana Schoeller, 2015, Oil on Canvas

Isabel Bernheimer, second oldest of four daughters of Bernheimer art dynasty from Munich, describes herself as self-taught. Her view of art was influenced by her childhood and received its own perspective during her 15 years of practice in the international contemporary art scene. Inter Alia with her mentor, the London Tate boss Chris Dercon, who also led the Munich ‘Haus der Kunst’.

Victor Alaluf beside his installation “Deadly Beauty”, mixed materials

Bernheimer is convinced that time is required for new concepts, by avoiding the classical gallery operation, in order to network with other sectors and with the current affairs. “I live and breathe in the world of artists,” says Isabel Bernheimer. And that’s good, because Berlin thus has an important, new address in the art scene. BvH

Jan Kuck: “Love, Hope, Purity”, 2014, series of concrete and special resin

Victor Alaluf: “Fallen Angel”, 2015, mixed materials

Jan Kuck: “Soap”, 2015, concrete, soap, tiles

Jan Kuck filled this “pool” with garbage bags as a warning of the increasingly polluted oceans

The finely-stocked museum shop offers limited editions and unique pieces of international artists

Ludvig Andersson, son of ABBA legend Benny played songs from his new album in the evening of the opening

Contact:
Bernheimer Contemporary
Residenz Monbijou
Monbijoustraße 2
Berlin, Germany

www. bernheimercontemporary.de

Featured pic by Kareen Kittelmann

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The Gentlemen’s Circle – Berlin’s new Hotspot for Gentlemen in Charlottenstraße (Mitte)

“Welcome MyStylery!” André Goerner, managing director, founder und host of the Gentlemen’s Circle

What the well-tended gentleman considered as a standard service in New York and London for a long time, the most fastidious Berlin gentleman is now no longer withheld from. The Gentlemen’s Circle just opened in Charlotten Straße in Mitte, a very special barbershop, as it is not just about wet shaving and men’s haircut. While he can treat himself with a professional manicure, the elegant footwear is adequately polished to a high gloss. If there is still need for a tuxedo with matching bow for a black-tie event, even that is not a problem because the Gentlemen’s Circle is set to respond to such emergencies and offers white shirts and cufflinks and other men’s accessories.

The painting “The Piano Tuner” of an unknown artist (1914) is located above a customized green velvet sofa

Since it feels like every other man in Berlin is now wearing a beard, a gap in the market has emerged, which was noticed by the Berlin hairdresser André Goerner six years ago and since then he worked meticulously on a concept, which should appeal to a broad clientele, from the hip scene DJ to a prosperous chairman. As different as the particular background of these clients is, all share the desire for a place of refuge enjoying the beautiful things in life.

Actor Bruno Eyron has taken place on the cozy “Apollo 2”, the legendary barber chair of the Japanese tradition company Takara Belmont

Even actor Bruno Eyron likes to drop by for a shave on off-days and slides in a “Apollo 2”, the legendary barber chair of the Japanese tradition company Takara Belmont, which is being built unrivalled since the 1930s. Bruno Eyron, who was in Rome for the Italian Serie-Shooting “Non Estato mio figlio” (it wasn’t my son), closes his eyes, leans back and relaxes while Dennis, the barber immerses the real hair shaving brush in the Prorasa shaving soap. “It comes from Italy, costs five Euros and is currently the best on the market,” says Goerner, who selected products from Austria, England, Portugal and the United States and deliberately avoids over-priced high-end products.

The Gentlemen’s Circle offers only selected products like the italien shaving soap Proraso

So one is surprised when entering the elegant salon ambience, where espresso – a special Berlin roasting – is offered for only one Euro. The noble appearance is decorated in earth tones and conveys with chromed glass shelves and the green velvet sofa. A lounge atmosphere that relinquishes the fashionable rough wood look. “This is not the Wild West,” says Goerner, who sees himself as a host and a conductor of all areas of his Gentlemen’s Circle.

How about a drink? At the bar, great espresso coffee is served, and the classic cocktail Gin Rickey makes its comeback: lime juice, sugar, soda and Gin Monkey 47

How does he explain this beard boom, I ask. “For men, the beard is what the makeup is for women. The beard shapes and individualizes the face.” Goerner, since last summer wearing a beard himself, knows what he is talking about. He grew up near Dresden, after the fall of the Berlin Wall he went to Bavaria and completed a hairdressing apprenticeship. In Munich, he worked for the wellknown Barber Gerhard Meir, after which he managed Meirs stores in Berlin Hotel “Adlon” and the “Grand Hotel Heiligendamm”. Since 2004 he leads his own salon for men and women at Hausvogteiplatz, in the prominent vicinity of embassies, government authorities and the luxury hotels in Berlins chic center.

His idea is the revival of the “day-bar”-culture: André Goerner

The Gentlemen’s Circle is a place of encounter with a club atmosphere – without being a Club. Everyone is welcome; spontaneously or by appointment. “The Berlin Men now have their own address. I mean, what man likes going to their wife’s hairdresser?” , Goerner sums up.

This place is not just about shaving and haircut: The concierge service also organizes a table in the trendy restaurant or tickets for the opera

Neat and tidy!

The armor of the samurai-General of the Showa era (1915) is homage to the Japanese culture. Goerner auctioned it at Lauritz.com

In this world of masculinity, women have no access to. Only on Friday – between 7 to 9 p.m. – the lady may accompany the gentleman, having a drink at the bar and watching her now fresh pampered husband while smoking a Cohiba. But what don’t women undertake to make their men satisfied.   BvH

“Wonderful, such a professional wet shave!” Bruno Eyron

Barbier Dennis slides the Japanese razor carefully on Bruno Eyrons skin. “Last year in the old part of Havana I had a shave from José. That was lovely. But in the Gentlemen’s Circle it’s downright heavenly”.

After shaving, hot towels soothe the skin – and the nerves

Nourishing oils moisturize the now baby-smooth skin after shaving

Now a perfect haircut with the traditional hair trimmer by “Detailer”

Dry bar

Bruno Eyron, who was best known for his role as Chief Inspector Balko in the eponymous television series, is now again freshly shaved and styled – thanks to Barber Dennis

Contact:
Gentlemen’s Circle
Charlottenstraße 35

10117 Berlin – Mitte

+49 30 200 754 70
www.gentlemens-circle.com

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