Freunde von Freunden (Friends of Friends), the German online interview magazine, has managed to straddle both the digital and printed worlds this December, with the release of its first eponymous title.
Founded by Berlin-based design studio NoMoreSleep in 2009, the website invites readers into the personal spaces of Berlin creatives, which are documented through a series of photographs and interviews. Now the homes and working environments of the first 28 individuals featured on the website have been compiled into a 336-page book, accompanied by narratives in both English and German.
'We wanted to create a portrait of our friends and creative folks in non-linear careers, which you never usually see in the media', explains Frederik Frede, co-founder of both the website and NoMoreSleep. The result is a tightly edited, yet inexhaustible look into the lives of Berliners, in which the pared down elegance of the enviable high-ceilinged, low-rent residences, which permeate the city's districts, are beautifully portrayed.
Subjects range from artists such as Nomad, whose enigmatic shoot in his Löwenpalais apartment provides the book with its memorable cover, to art collector Christian Boros (who is also manager of Distanz, the book's publisher) whose home, a 1942 former Second World War air raid shelter, is littered with art by prominent artists such as Olafur Eliasson.
With both interviews and photographs generated by a circle of Berlin-based friends and acquaintances, the book successfully differentiates itself from the glut of similar 'personal space' models. Describing the unique 'friends of friends' concept, Adriano Sack notes in the book's foreword: 'anyone who is photographed in the book today will propose the next friend tomorrow; anyone who - as a reader - discovers the website today can be activated to serve as an interviewer tomorrow.'
The Freunde von Freunden website expanded worldwide in September this year, with permanent editorial teams set up in London, Paris, New York, Stockholm and Sao Paulo, as well as the addition of an iPad app. Plans are in the pipeline for more books.
A spread from the chapter on illustrator Olaf Hajek’s apartment in Berlin-Mitte
A spread from the chapter on owner of Bread Exchange, Malin Elmlid’s ’Altbau’ apartment
A spread from the chapter on artist Xenia Hausner’s studio in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg
A spread from the chapter on gallerist and art collector Thomas and Harriet Andrae’s home, Muthesius House in Berlin-Grunewald
Thomas Andrae’s study
A spread from the chapter on Malin Elmid’s apartment
A spread from the chapter on art lawyer and collector Peter Raue’s apartment in Berlin-Mitte
Peter Raue in his apartment
Peter Raue’s book-filled corridor
Art director André Wyst and children’s shop owner Ines Colmorgen in their home in Berlin-Mitte
US Interior designer and film producer Andrea Willson’s garden in Landhaus, Potsdam-Sacrow
Entrepreneur Conrad Fritzch in his loft in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg
Dj and producer, Dennis ’Kaos’ Kaun in West-Berlin
Artist and cover model Nomad
Illustrator, Frank Höhne in his apartment in Berlin-Kreuzberg
Architect and designer, Axel van Exel in his loft in Berlin-Neukölln
A spread from the chapter on fashion stylist Kirsten Hermann’s Berlin apartment, reflecting her two great passions: Margiela shoes and Frederike Helwig photographs
A spread from the chapter on photographer Alex Flach’s apartment in Berlin-Mitte
A spread from the chapter on art collectors Karen and Christian Boros’s Berlin home. The converted bunker also houses their extensive art collection
Designer and founder of fashion label A.D.DEERTZ, Wibke Deertz in her Berlin apartment
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