“Poor but sexy” Berlin. Where desperation is the mother of innovation
Tolerant, culturally rich and diverse, iconic and, above all, cheap, Berlin has, since reunification in 1990, re-established itself as an edgy creative city. Elsewhere in the world, bureaucrats try to make cities creative through decree or grandiose projects. In Berlin, creative clusters emerge naturally. The epicentre of this creativity is Mitte, Berlin’s equivalent to London’s old Jewish East End where London-based Bavarian designer Markus Lupfer says: “The streets change on an almost daily basis.”
Berlin may be the only European capital where shopping mall design has been inspired by the Rubik’s Cube. Some Berlin icons, like the world famous Mercedes sign remain constant as the city changes.
The city’s 6,300 design companies generate £1bn of revenue and have helped the creative sector grow by 4.5% a year since 1998 as low rents, a trendy image, lively nightlife and a sophisticated support network have drawn in artists and designers.
The new Reichstag is the crowning glory of the revitalised Berlin but mayor Klaus Wowereit knows that the epicentre of the city’s creative boom is further east, in the Mitte area.
More than 6,000 students take design-related courses in Berlin. Many then help lead the industry locally. Clara Kraetsch and Doreen Schultz, for example, founded c.neeon, one of the hottest fashion labels in Europe, after graduating from the Berlin School of Art and Design. Industrial designers Oliver Vogt and Hermann Weizenegger, both graduates of the Berlin University of the Arts, founded their company V+W in 1992 and made their name with the Blaupause collection of furniture. They have used design to support struggling crafts and helped the Institute of the Blind design stylish, innovative accessories for the visually impaired. V+W is also behind the DESIGNMAI-Festival which, together with the TypoBerlin, Berlin Fashion Week and the Berlin Film Festival, ensures the city is seldom off the cultural calendar.
MAKE has made the green/red man from the old East German traffic lights a style icon. V+W isn’t at all precious about its furniture It launched one range as blueprints only, opening up the products for anyone to make.
This boom is profoundly good news because most of the traditional industries closed as soon as Cold War subsidies ended. Mayor Klaus Wowereit wasn’t joking when he said, “Berlin is poor but sexy”: the city-state’s debt now stands at 70% of GDP and unemployment seems stuck at 19%. Tourism, however, is booming, as visitors flock to experience the city’s museums, galleries and shops. Berlin’s top tourist draws include Sir Norman Foster’s gleaming glass-domed Reichstag building, which has been swiftly transformed from a symbol of faded power to a cultural icon. Much like Berlin.
Article first published in Design Council Magazine, Issue 2, Summer 2007