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

The post The pink world of entrepreneur Jasmin Taylor appeared first on My Stylery.

The brown parquet flooring encases the intermingling levels like a skin: Fireplace and retractable bed, above the dining level

The golden kitchen – in “Byzantium-Gold Metallic” – and the entrée

There are not many people who can be described as cosmopolitan. The advertiser Amir Kassaei certainly can. Born in Teheran, being a 13 years old child soldier, he flew from the Iran-Iraq war in the trunk of a smuggler over Turkey to Austria. He graduated from high school, studied economics in Paris, worked as an advertising writer in Hamburg and then became executive partner of the advertising agency DDB Group (Dane, Doyle, Bernbach), of which he is the CCO worldwide today. Kassaei, who belongs to the three best creative chiefs in the world, won more than 2000 national and international awards. He is married, has four children and lives in New York, Ibiza and Berlin. 2004 – in the middle of Prenzlauer Berg district, the man with the Vienna-accent realized a modern living dream on 265 square meters over two floors in the attic of an old building.

CCO Amir Kassaei of DDB agency relaxes in his Eames Lounge Chair

MyStylery: Prenzlauer Berg is the area with the most children in Europe, in which mothers enjoy a reputation of a thundering echo. What made you come here?
Amir Kassaei: My agency DDB had its offices here ten years ago. The hood is still quite cozy, even though not as cornered and edged. And the notorious mothers don’t really bother me (laughs). As a father of four children, to me, the neighborhood conveys the feeling of not being dead yet.

View from the gallery into the lower lounge area

MS: One is surprised, when seeing the Turn-of-the-century house from outside and then entering your flat. An unexpected contrast.
AK: Yes, especially since we weren’t allowed to change anything about the heritage-protected exterior facade. When it came to the flat, it was about not creating a hypermodern concept. The harmony of the forms and colors was important to me and also the idea to connect architecture and interior design from the beginning. I wanted the biggest flexibility. The sofa for example disappears into the floor when pressing a button when no one needs it.

Eero Saarinens “Tulip Chairs” and table from Knoll; in front a “Tripp Trapp” stool for the kids …

… and two “Caboche”-chandeliers, a design-classic from Foscarini

MS: On 265 square meters, there are no separated room surfaces – except for the child’s room. Everything is open and connects to each other. Where is your safe haven?
AK: It just comes about, after all we have eight different levels of action: cooking, eating, sitting, sleeping, working, relaxing, entering and exiting. Variable curtains create rooms and can also open them again. Often big rooms seem like uncomfortable sports halls in which you feel completely lost. I wanted big rooms but with comfort.

Variable curtains separate the sleeping area from the living room

MS: The renovation took two and a half years. Did you not go mental at some point?
AK: When I moved in, it was partly still a construction area. Indeed it was the drywall builders who nearly killed themselves (laughs). There was not supposed to be a single edge or corner. Everything is round – including the skylights. And this truly cost time and nerves.

The rounded TV and fireplace element is made out of car steel: “Only on this surface the paint is so visually expressive,” explains Kassaei

“Today, round hoods are a standard form,” Amir Kassaei says, “but when the home was built in 2004, it took us a long time to get one.”

MS: What does one, who actually prefers a cold objectivity and does not cook, do with a golden kitchen?
AK: I was looking for a strong color and there was only one possibility: the golden color of the legendary Daimler Benz Modell ‘/8’ from the 70’s. It took ages until I traced a meanwhile pensioned sprayer, who mixed “Byzantium-Gold Metallic” for me. And this in such masses, that about 40 meters of the gold-sprayed aluminum plates are backlogged. At our house, my wife cooks and as she wasn’t happy about the original minimalistic equipped variety, the kitchen got equipped up in cupboards and tackles.

Amir Kassaei compares the gold tone of his iPhone with the kitchen front in “Byzanzgold Metallic”, the color of the legendary 70’s Mercedes model ‘/ 8’ by Daimler Benz

MS: You jet around the world 200 days of the year…
AK: … and the media applauds when Mrs. Merkel flies 20.000 miles in one week. That’s the sheerest stroll for me (laughs).

The French House band “Cassius” (picture by celebrity photographer Rankin)

MS: With all the traveling and three residences: where do you feel at home?
AK: I am a refugee child; I’ve always been on the road. This truly has its benefits, as I can always adapt myself. I feel very homely in Ibiza. And also I’m always excited to be back in Berlin. Berlin is, apart from New York, the only city in which I would want to live. Being at home to me is more a feeling of not being bound to a certain place.  BvH

Amir Kassaei and Muhammad Ali at a Thanksgiving Dinner 2003. The boxer is a role model to Kassaei “for the ultimate consistency in his behavior”.

By removing the former ceiling, the gallery now measures seven and a half meters in height

The photographic work “Romy” by Axel Krieger next to a vintage armchair

The morning sun shines on the golden Bisazza mosaic tiles in the bathroom. “It’ s like taking a shower of gold,” says Amir Kassaei

Greetings from Karl Lagerfeld

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