The high-rise buildings at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin

The Berlin skyscrapers at Potsdamer Platz remind Karim El-Barbari of his former home in New York City and that motivated the designer to move to the heart of the German capital after a 20 year interval. New York, Milan, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, London and Hamburg – the man with the exotic name (father Egyptian, mother from Saarland) has hardly left out a metropolis. Six years ago, the apartment with a view of Berlin’s nascent skyline only served as a storage for his household effects. Since then, the designer transformed it into a colourful living space composed of objects that have been taken of many periods: 18th century, French 1930’s and 1940’s, Bauhaus and pieces of the 1970’s. There was no single inch omitted.

Baroque armchairs and acrylic tables by Kartell – get the mix

Interior Designer Karim El-Barbari

MyStylery: Quiz: What is the secret behind the numeric code 8022 and 6013?
Karim El-Barbari (laughs): Two of my favourite RAL colours: 8022-Black brown, which I use instead of a true black, just as the ceiling of the kitchen and 6013-light reed green as the walls in my living room. My motto: People if you dare – more audacity to colour!

Karim El-Barbari combined China Cabinets and European antiques

MS: For that the apartment only served as a storage space, the location is rather exclusive…
KEB: That’s true. When I moved here the entire building was empty and no one wanted to move to this at the time No-Man’s-Land. At the beginning I only used the kitchen and the bedroom when I was in Berlin, a city I only barely knew. Then, one morning, when coming back from a trip to the US, I was overcome by a desire and began to unpack all of the boxes. I hung up paintings and unrolled carpets. Many of these things belonged to my parents, such as the Venini and Lalique vases or the porcelain by Rosenthal and Meissen.

Never alone: Vases by Venini, Lalique, Alexander Lamont, Meissen, Rosenthal Studio Line (vintage). The art is by Max Mertz

El-Barbari bought the brown sideboard in the Paris Galerie Vallois. The black bronze vases are from Alexander Lamont

MS: Is this your tip, not just to place one vase but immediately a whole bunch?
KEB: It’s a trick I learned from a famous interior designer in New York. You should always choose an uneven number, just like the seven Sistrah lamps hanging over my dining table. Only three of them are connected, but I felt that seven of them would look much cooler.

Persian rugs, everywhere you look. They all come from El-Barbaris parents

The golden lampstand is by Maison Jansen, the legendary tastemaker of the 20th century, now a rare collector’s item

“Antlers with garden Goblin” by Patrick Kroner over the linoleic print “Growing Up” by Berlin artist Oliver Kroll

MS: You mix Louis XVI chairs with chairs from the Bauhaus. You even find a spot for the “antlers with garden goblin” by placing them above a modern painting.
KEB (laughs): Oh, the antlers… well… At first, I put the antlers up there to remind me that I should never buy art just because it would help an artist friend. But over time, I actually started to like them as they have a fun sense of humor. Basically I follow Pippi Longstocking’s mantra: I am making my world as I like it.

El-Barbari placed the China-table at which Jacky Kennedy once played in front of the sofa from the TV series “Sex and the City”

MS: Your apartment has many comfortable seating arrangements. Where is your favourite place to sit down?
KEB: I love chilling on the beige sofa, which I got a long time ago through a friend who worked on the stage design of the then unknown TV series “Sex and the City”. Before I have never heard from Carrie & Co and I initially thought it was a porn production. They had two of them and the other one ended up at the apartment of Miranda Hobbes.

Everyone has curtains anyways! Here screens darken the bedroom

MS: Did you always have a liking to apartments with opulent arrangements?
KEB: No. I once had an apartment in New York, which I only decorated with furniture by Mies van der Rohe, Mackintosh Chairs and other contemporary designers. At the time, I got inspired by the movie 9 ½ weeks starring Mickey Rouke and the apartment of his character. That was pure purism and it was so unbelievably uncomfortable. The apartment was very photogenic, but I constantly had to clean it up. Over the years, I became more of a collector, although I think that my next move will be into a more minimal-decorated space.

Also in the bedroom a bunch of Art: Works by Max Mertz and Andrulat Degenhardt in Petersburg hanging

MS: Did you always work in interior design?
KEB: I actually started out in the fashion industry. But when living in New York in the 1990’s, I had many friends who looked for certain pieces of furniture and others who wanted to sell things from their apartments. So I started to place and mix their collections into my apartment and sell them. This was a great experience and my first step towards a career in interior design. I still love doing it to this day.

So cool: the SMEG fridge in Brit-Chic

MS: Tell me a little bit about some of the things that you collected over the years.
KEB: For example the small chinese coffee table out of the 18th century once belonged to a New York friend of mine. As a kid she used to sit on it drawing and playing with her babysitter. And the Babysitter was Jacky Kennedy. My SMEG refrigerator in a brit-look also tells a story: When living in Milan, I passed it daily on my way to work, before I finally decided to buy it years later. I follow the principle, when I buy something then it’s for myself and not to impress others.  BvH

Contact Karim El-Barbari:

http://kelbarbari@icloud.com

The post At home with Designer Karim El-Barbari appeared first on My Stylery.

The villa – built in 1887 – is located on a 3,000 square meter property in Berlin Westend. The living and working area is of a total of 1,000 square meters

Welcome!

Every morning when Jasmin Taylor wakes up, she first notices the pink silk-covered pouf in her boudoir; behind is a whole armada of pink bags, shoes in all imaginable pink-nuances and even the walls of her walk-in closet are covered in pink silk. The prospects of the successful touristic-entrepreneur, who welcomes me with her pink pumps and matching pants in her villa in Berlin, weren’t always the best. Born in Teheran, she witnessed the begin of the Iran Revolution with thirteen years, whereupon her parents sent her to Germany with 17. All alone and without any knowledge of German, she began a new life in Bonn. She learnt the language determinedly, got the German Abitur, studied Psychology and Management in the USA afterwards. Back in Germany her carrier in the tourism industry began.

Jasmin Taylor sitting on a pink silk pouf in her walking closet surrounded by XXL mirrors

MyStylery: Mrs Taylor, where does your proclivity for the color magenta come from? Even the logo of your firm JT Touristik is pink.
Jasmin Taylor: Pink symbolizes feminism, emotionality and is a signal color at the same time. As women eventually decide on the travel destination, the color design of the logo seems to be a logical consequence.

The lime green fabrics from Colefax & Fowler in the bedroom reminiscent to the oriental roots of Jasmin Taylor

The ensuite bath of the masterbed room

MS: You studied Psychology and Economics. How did you become a travel organizer?
JT: This was more a coincidence. I knew that I wanted to create an online-company. The only things with which you could make money online around the turn of millennium were CD’s, books and travels. As is liked travelling, I decided for the touristic line. In 2002 I started as a “one-woman-show” and established JT Touristik in 2009.

View from the dining room into the kitchen. „Terrarium“ lamp by Lindsey Adelman New York

A samovar should not be missed in the kitchen of a Persian

The custom made kitchen by Holger Hansen and Karim El-Barbari is equipped with an exclusively designed tile pattern from Bisazza

MS: The “Travel Industry Club” elected her as travel manager of the year in 2011. Her company made 150 Million Euros in the past year; she employs 60 staff members and offers travelling in 150 destinations. How did you get so successful?
JT: It’s the cost-benefit ratio, which convinces our clients. They book a five star hotel for the price of a four star house. I call this “Value for Money”.

Jasmin Taylor wanted a “paneled dining room.” The design team Hansen / El-Barbari created a paneling of limed and varnished oak.Table by Knoll (Design: Saarinen), chairs „Paloma“ by Baxter, above a custom-built lamp „Branching Bubble Chandelier“ by Lindsey Adelman New York

The round glass table by Sebastian Herkner for Classicon. The Gerbera bouquet is of course in Pink

MS: Berlin is your center of life. What inspired you about the city?
JT: Berlin is the only cosmopolitan city in Germany, if not even in Europe. After I even found my dream house in the capital five years ago, Berlin to me is “the place to be”.

View into the livingroom: Sofas by Minotti with fabrics by Etro

MS: How do working and living in the same house work out? Isn’t a little distance missing sometimes?
JT: No, quite the contrary. I have short distances. This saves time. When I designed my private flat, I made sure that the concept of color is different to the one of the company’s rooms; even though I couldn’t completely – to my architects chagrins – quit pink. (laughs)

In the living room the photographic work „Don’t Block“ by Eva Hassmann (2012) above a brass fireplace. Ceiling lamp by Bocci

MS: When you bought the villa in 2010, you found yourself in ruins.
JT: Yes, the house was in a miserable state, my nephew called it “Dracula’s Villa”. The roof was open, the nature was in control, birds nested everywhere. It’s already being refurbished since five years.

In the ancient Persian carpets, the artists have immortalized themselves by name. “A carpet is made of more than 100 million nodes,” says Jasmin Taylor. “They stand for a lifetime.” Chocolate brown lambskin chair “Prince” with pouf by Minotti

“The important thing to me are cozy sitting areas,” says Jasmin Taylor on the design of the oriel

MS: What was important to you for the interior concept?
JT: The concept I worked on together with the Berliner architect Holger Hansen and the interior designer Karim El-Barbari. It’s inspired by French Art-Deco and the Wiener Akademie in the 1930s, but interpreted modern with clear lines and luxury materials. And it was supposed to reflect upon my oriental roots, which Holger Hansen and Karim El-Barbari worked out perfectly. My father often traded in fabrics and silks, so that I already had an affinity to textiles. The antique Persian carpets were the demands for the interior design, everything else had to be fit on them, after the motto: Prussia meet Persia. The outcome was a mix of modern and classic elements, with which I am very happy.

Precious fabrics and handmade embroideries decorate the pillows

The chandelier “Arctic Pear” by Ochre under a gold-leaf wallpaper of the Berlin manufactory Welter in the library

The suede sofa and the stools of Mongolian wool (design: Paola Navone) are from Baxter

The photografic work “Private Property” by Eva Hassmann (2012), Sideboard by Fendi. The brass samovar is an heirloom of Jasmin’s grandmother

MS: Living this dream in such a dream house, are there any spare wishes?
JT: Of course I still have wishes, for example that my mother stays healthy and fit for long. A life without dreams would be miserable – no matter what one achieves. BvH

Mirrored doors are reflecting the light in the hall

Oriental ornaments can also be found in the guest room

Even the guest bathroom is custom made

The silk tapestry is a special model of the English manufactury Degournay. Ceiling lamp “Scheherazade” made of silk by Fortuny

View on the terrace

Contacts:
Jasmin Taylor  www.jt.de
Karim El-Barbari keb@kebconcepts.com
Holger Hansen hh@hansenwinkler.de

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