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By Petra Zlatevska. First published in Blue Wings magazine, March 2012.

There are now some 400 million entrepreneurs starting and running new businesses, according to a recent survey by the world’s largest study of entrepreneurship, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (www. gemconsortium.org), which profiled 54 economies.
 
In Europe, the German capital is currently a hotbed for new ventures. “Berlin is an amazing city that’s very similar to a startup, with a large pool of people who have big ideas, are passionate, and willing to work hard,” says Edial Dekker, Dutch-born CEO and co-founder of Gidsy (http://gidsy.com/about/). The Berlin- based online platform lets people discover, offer and book unique experiences in New York, London, Berlin and Amsterdam.

Gidsy was founded on the concept of micro-employment, where anyone can be an entrepreneur by organising, hosting and charging a nominal fee for a specialised off-line activity. These range from a Chinatown soup dumpling tour in NYC to ping-pong and speed-dating in London. The startup recently received more than one million euros in investor funding, including seed money from Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher.

But Berlin is not representative of the rest of Europe, which according to the European Union does not have enough entrepreneurs setting up new businesses. Not to mention the disproportionate number of female to male entrepreneurs. For example, in the EU’s largest country, Germany, women account for no more than 29 per cent of all start-ups.

Iceland’s Rúna Magnusdottir, a successful entrepreneur and founder of Connected-Women.com and co-founder of BRANDit, is ranked by Forbes magazine as one of 20 global business women to follow on twitter. She believes that a social system promoting gender equality, strong female role models as well as specific government grants and programmes to assist women entrepreneurs start a business all increase economic diversity. 

“Global power systems are collapsing around us – the bank crash in Iceland, the global financial crisis, the Arab Spring,” she says. “Now more than ever we need entrepreneurs to change the world into one where we and our children want to live.”

A few months ago, I got in touch with the lovely Sarah, editor and founder of one of my favourite blogs yesandyes.  After a bit of email badminton, she asked me to write a guest post on the benefits of embarking upon a career sabbatical.

This post was inspired by my real-life post-GFC travels around Asia, prior to landing in Berlin. I credit the sabbatical with pushing me out of my comfort zone and being a MAJOR factor in giving me the confidence and courage to pursue my writing and creative career.

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How many times have you been sitting in your office with a full in-tray, an annoying boss asking you to churn out yet another meaningless monthly report and what with yesterday’s cuppa soup staining your desk, all the while dreaming about joining an art retreat in the Tuscan foothills? Well, the good news is that these day dreams don’t merely have to be confined to your private journal or Pinterest board.  In less time than you’d think, you could be sitting in on that artist’s retreat.

The bad news is that it is going to take a bit of saving, a lot of motivation and a healthy dose of courage.

Read on here…

„Wo ick wohne? Wie alle feine Leite, Berlin W. hinten mit en ‚Ding‘! –?? – Na Mensch, vastehste nich, Berlin Wedding!“

  - Hans Ostwald, Der Urberliner

“4€, bitte” the man said chirpily.

“Entschuldigung, nochmal ? ” I asked, incredulous about the price.

 “Ja, 4€” he repeated.

I handed over the coins, wondering  in the process how this lovely, cheerful man and his family could possibly make a living. This was the asking price for a yummy, doughy lump of spinach-filled goodness and a big cup of Turkish tea at a gözleme café in a little known corner of Berlin. 

A few weekends ago, desperate to escape the tourist trap that my street has become, (Dutch retirees, Barcelona art students, Americans who shop at the Kollwitzmarkt Saturday markets) I had the urge to go where no tourist goes: Wedding.

When I first moved to Berlin and met people living in Mitte, Prenzlauerberg and Kreuzberg, they told me that everything I need to see, know and do about Berlin is contained within the radius formed by their three suburbs. I came to realise very quickly how wrong that was.

I first came across Wedding when I took a German language course at the Volkshochschule Mitte  last Spring. I intentionally ticked the box for the Wedding campus (although technically, Wedding and Mitte have now fused together into one Council agglomeration as part of a cost-cutting exercise a few years ago by the city’s Senat.)

Two times a week, I would ride my bike to class jetting past Tetris-like residential buildings and unkempt public spaces. I’d constantly have to break on my bike, for the infinite number of many people, old and young, who seemed to be limping about on some kind of walking frame or wheel chair. The thing that struck me the most about this place though was its unmistakable multi kulti factor, which reminded me of many suburbs in my home town of Sydney. Afro hair dressers next to a Turkish nut shop and coffee roastery, opposite an Italian espresso bar  squeezed haphazardly adjacent a typical German corner Kneipe (pub).

I hadn’t been back to Wedding since my class. This visit, I wanted to see the World War Two era Flak tower which was supposed to be somewhere in the area.

The Flak towers were large, above-ground, concrete bunkers built in the cities of Berlin, Hamburg , and Vienna from 1940 onwards. They were used by the German Luftwaffe to defend against Allied air raids on these cities during World War II. They also served as air-raid shelters for tens of thousands of people and to coordinate air defence. 

I  walked across the road from the Gesundbrunnen S-Bahn station to Humboldthain park, passed an army of mothers walking their babies in prams, young kids kicking a soccer ball around and a group of old Croatian men playing bocce. I eventually came upon the remains of Flaktower III. It is possible to walk up to the top of it and in the warmer months, take a tour  of the Flak tower’s underground. I didn’t know what to expect – it is rather decrepit and has morphed into an outdoor canvas for all sorts of amateur graffiti and political messaging. There was mostly locals and a few photography enthusiasts out and about on this crisp, sunny Saturday afternoon.

 Humboldthain Park 

 Flaktower in Humboldthain park 

There is a local saying which goes “Habt Spass, wenn ihr in den Wedding geht.” Have fun, if you are going to the Wedding.  No one really knows why the locals refer to the suburb as  ‘der Wedding’ (The Wedding) and the fact that non-residents don’t realise they are supposed to use the definite article is an interesting social and linguistic oddity.  Unlike its English meaning, symbolic of joy, happiness, togetherness and eternity, unfortunately there is no linguistic correlation in German. It is just the name of place and is one of the few place names with an article  (in the Berliner dialect one would say “Er wohnt uff’m Wedding“ oder „am Wedding“-  “He lives on the Wedding or at the Wedding”)

Wedding’s colourful mix of people and its bustling streets seem to be in contrast to its trendier neighbour Prenzlauer Berg, which lies in the former East Berlin. There is something about its concrete blocks and grey streets which gives me the feeling that I would not want to find myself here after dark – which is a rarity in Berlin.

While decades of war, isolation and gentrification have shaped the demographics and architecture of many other neighbouring suburbs, Wedding is an exception. Social change has been slow here – it was one of the poorest suburbs in the 19th century, reminiscent of Charles Dickens’ London with infant mortality, unemployment and tuberculosis rife.

Abandoned building, once part of the beer brewing teaching and research department of the Technische Universität

It is one of the Berlin districts which has arguably changed the least in the last one hundred years. While the artists and activists were progressively driven out of Prenzlauer Berg in the late 1990s by wealthy southern Germans setting up art galleries, advertising executives from Hamburg and Scandinavian real estate investors, Wedding has not got a large slice of this prettying-up pie. Ongoing poverty, high unemployment rates and with many of its residents on some form of social welfare, has meant that Wedding still has its “lefty” political affiliations. Many of the city’s most outspoken soap box commentators (and CDU critics) can be found here.

After 1945 until German reunification, Wedding ended up in West Berlin, as part of the French occupation zone of Berlin. Since the post-war German “Wirtschaftswunder” (economic miracle), the area was a magnet for Turkish and  former Yugoslavian Gastarbeiter (guest workers), many of whom continue to live in the apartments given to them by the German state and who decided to settle in Berlin. Then in the 80s came the wave of Africans and other migrant groups from the Middle East, fleeing persecution in their home countries and seeking better opportunities. The 90s saw a wave of economic migrants from the former USSR and other ex-Communist countries in the Caucasus.

At a Turkish market

There are, however, quite a few hidden gems as I discovered. The suburb boasts one of the most un-marketed UNESCO world heritage sites in the world: Schillerpark. Designed by Bruno Taut  in the late 1920s, it is as exemplary a piece of Modernist urban design as you are likely to see anywhere. There is also the former Luisenbad, said to be the source of the suburb’s natural spring and which is now a public library.

Schiller memorial at Schillerpark

Luisenbad

While it is not one of the prettiest suburbs in this city by any means, what it lacks in beauty, it surely makes up for in the charm and authenticity of its people.

Photos from judith74 .

See:

‘Nächste Ausfahrt Wedding’ offers guided walking tours (in German) with locals and includes visits to the African shops, Turkish hairdressers and gives an insight into many hidden parts of the suburb http://www.ausfahrtwedding.de/ 

Humboldthain Park and Flaktower III (S-Bahn and U-Bahn Gesundbrunnen)

Gesundbrunnen Mall (S-Bahn and U-Bahn Gesundbrunnen)

Turkish, African and other shops on Mullerstr.  and Seestr.

Eat:

Sirin Gözleme opposite S-Bahn Wedding (12 Müllerstr., Wedding)

On first blush, mixing alcohol with art may seem like a dangerous endeavour.

Yet when you think of any gallery launch or vernissage there is always bubbly and wine on hand to celebrate the new works of an up-and-coming darling of the art world. Have you ever been to an exhibition launch where the guests were drinking aloe vera juice. Or Fanta ?

So it only seems fitting that one of Germany’s (and the world’s) most popular and beloved beer brands enters the Kunstmarkt.

Beck’s recently established The Green Box Project, “a global fund established to inspire, celebrate and financially support independent talent in art, design, music and fashion.” Over the next three years, Beck’s will fund and showcase 1,000 projects by individual artists, musicians and digital designers.

It is a fairly heavy brief and the project has already launched in New York and London. It made its Berlin debut last Wednesday 7th at Soho House.

I was quite skeptical about this collaboration. Corporate involvement in the arts does not always have a positive outcome in Berlin. A case in point is the recent controversy caused by the BMW Guggenheim Lab. Local residents of Kastanienallee Prenzlauerberg objected to the installation in their street and lobbied the Government and Local council and succeeded in foiling the project. It has since had to change its location to the Pfefferberg down the road.

The Green Box launch party was held at SoHo house and as expected, there was a sea of Beck’s bottles and in true Mitte style, woollen beanies aplenty, garlanding the room. There were also a group of people holding their iPads towards a green screen and it was only about half an hour later that I realised that this was the purpose of the green box. The commissioned art was ‘inside’ and it was supposed to be experienced via augmented-reality.

I had to download the special app, then install it on my iPhone using the special Becks wi-fi available on that night only and then enter my date of birth, to ensure I’m not a minor (in Germany, 16 year olds are allowed to legally drink beer anyways).

Then it was a matter of pointing the iPad or iPhone to the green ‘box’ and images of the art would appear and could be viewed through the iPhone or iPad.

As there was no actual art adorning the walls, the several strategically placed fridges full of Beck’s waiting for the desperate to help themselves, the pulsing green neon lighting and otherwise sparse decoration (white sheets draping carelessly behind the bar) made the function seem as though it could be someone’s private cellar and not necessarily an art event. Which is perhaps what Beck’s was aiming for.

On reflection, Beck’s makes beer not absinthe or tobacco and is not involved in oil drilling. It values innovation, being one of the first German companies to use green glass to protect their beer once it had fermented.  Beck’s in comparison with other food or beverage businesses, has the kudos to sustain this project. Its prior Art Label initiative sponsored artists such as Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, helping to launch them into stardom.  

Who knows if Jeff Koons drinks Beck’s. Even if he does not, he is a genius and it will be interesting to observe this new direction in art and the future stars it produces.

NB: As part of The Green Box Project Berlin launch, the limited edition FriendsWithYou virtual artwork is live until 2nd January and can be viewed by standing approximately 75 meters in front of the Brandenburg Gate using the Beck’s Key app, available at the iTunes & Android store. 

Schrill Spanish notes from the band could be heard from the street outside. The smell of fresh baked bread and gooey French cheeses also wafted past, as if the final clue in a foodie-version of ‘Race Around the World’.  I arrived at the Markthalle IX opening in the Wrangelstr. kiez in Kreuzberg on Saturday not knowing what to expect. A friend’s partner was one of the three brains behind the restoration of this 120 year old historic market hall. I had read the press release, seen what the hall looked like pre -2011 and was curious to see how an urban project supported by the local community was going to take off. It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon, the warmest Saturday in October since 1917 apparently.

As Berlin’s newest produce market, Markthalle IX is not  just about wanky organic, which seems to be the direction many food markets have taken. The sucessful tender was won because the investors promised to return the building to its original function, a place where people could buy regional produce and local baked goods (that did not necessarily have to be ‘bio’) then sit around and have a chat afterwards.The long,communal tables in the centre of the Halle proved an excellent way to strike up a conversation with strangers. The kids play area was a huge hit. Two and a half years of restoration and hundreds of neighbourhood meetings later, Markthalle IX channels the grand old market halls of Europe (think Barcelona’s La Boqueria or Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar). Its hundreds of windows, soaring ceilings, brick facade, detailed reliefs and historic stall signs have all been painstakingly restored.

This 120 year old building has had a tortured yet fascinating history. Since its opening on the 2 October in 1891, fresh butter, cheese, fruits, vegetables and smoked fish could all be purchased there. It was designated as Market Hall “Number 9″, out of a total of 12 (one for each Berlin council area). Hence its name. It was closed during the Nazi period and suffered extensive bombing during the war, only to be reopened during the post-war boom of the 1950s. When ALDI eventually leased a space to set up its store inside the hall in 1977, it pretty much spelled the death of the individual providores who were gradually squeezed out as they could no longer afford the rent. In the last few years before the restoration commenced, tacky shops selling mass-produced wares from mainland China, a discount fabric store and drug store all entered the scene.  By 2014, the drug store and fabric store will be out, ALDI is saying aufwiedersehen in mid – 2012. Then the entire building will be used for the food stalls. Yet the characteristic Berlin kneipe Linie 36 inside has withstood the test of time, standing like a centurion guarding the precious space around it.

The cheap roller – doors masking the chinzy stores have been removed and in their place now stand some thirty stalls, with the produce on full view. Home made bruschetta, organic fruits and vegetables from Brandenburg, Turkish gözleme, a florist, rustic bakery,handmade pasta, herbs from the nearby urban gardens Prinzessinnengarten, a wine store plus a few others are the first stalls. I overheard some people bitching that 6€ for 2 slices of bread with cheese and tomato was hefty. I was kind of inclined to agree. This part of Kreuzberg is still very much blue collar, the locals were always against “schicki micki”. The investors won the tender on the premise that they would not re – create a Prenzlauerberg yuppie scene. Many of the turkish families around the area shop at nearby turkish produce shops and delis, which are invariably  cheaper than what I saw at the markt. It is a tough call. The amount of young people that turned out on Saturday is nevertheless a sure sign that Berliners want an alternative to supermarkets and even organic ones at that.  There was a palpable sense of of pride that in 2011, that something so old- school could be back in fashion.

As long as the locals speak their mind, (and being Kreuzberg, they invariably will) Markthalle IX  can become a down to earth meeting place, stay true to its roots and encourage locals to get out and support their local growers.

Markthalle IX

Main entry: Eisenbahnstr. 42- 43, 10997 Berlin- Kreuzberg

Fridays 12 – 7pm and Saturdays 9 – 4pm

Who on earth could do such a barbaric thing to the white, fluffy ball of bearness formerly known as Knut?

I spotted this around Mitte a few days ago.

Ok ok, in case you are from PETA and doing a guerilla fashion audit, this is not Knut nor any taxidermied part of his anatomy. It is a white Winter coat hanging in a frenchie fashion store temptingly close to my office (guilty admission, it is next door). It is my boohoo moment and a timely reminder that Winter has popped its head around the corner and it is going to be back with a vengeance.

We are having a glorious Autumn/delayed Summer right now: the days are getting shorter, the air’s crisper and the city is bathed in shades of gold and russet. Pumpkin harvest festival signs are springing up. The ‘C-word’ is looming. It also means the C-word  conveyor belt has started churning out all sorts of C-word goodies. No sooner has Summer ended are people planning post C-word ski trips and proudly showing off their pile of freshly chopped firewood. Spekulatius and Lebkuchen (traditional deutsch C-word cookies) have been indiscretely plonked in the middle of all the major supermarkets aisles THREE months ahead of the actual C-word celebrations. It seems to start earlier each year. I’ve also seen the first sneaky beanies covering heads around Prenzlauerberg. Alas, Winter 2011 is going to be the first one in Berlin without furry little Knut.

For those partial to the Knut Coat (it is not made from animal products), it is from Sandro, Rosenthalerstr. 32, Mitte 10178.