A fragile truth: It is not always easy to find balance when you live between multiple places. Even though that is an active choice. Being at home becomes an estranged, blurred concept. What does it take to feel at home? Are 5 favorite books enough or the cozy sweater that you wear with your morning coffee? Is it the people nearby or the constant view outside the window? Does the idea of home even need walls, or is it an internal feeling that one learns to cultivate? I don't have an answer yet, but it's something I've been thinking about.
Étajèr
I have a new friend: Günsu Sarı. She is a brilliant Istanbul-based art director and collector of rare 20th century design objects. A few years ago she founded a carefully curated online shop called Étajèr. The photos of the objects are a work of art in themselves.
The range includes bright red paper clips from England, Murano vases from Italy, a Rhapsody bowl by Czech designer Frantisek Zemek, a glossy WMF snail serving bowl from Germany, folding desk lambs and French salmon wine glasses. Étajèr is a cabinet of curiosities and the turquoise Boopie Bubble glass ashtray is already mine. It will look great in any home.
Gundula Schulze Eldowy
Two weeks ago I received a stunning new catalog. It is called “Keep a Stiff Upper Lip!” and is dedicated to the photographer Gundula Schulze Eldowy, her work and her relationship with Robert Frank. It is a book full of photos, memories, anecdotes, interviews and postcards.
Gundula Schulze Eldowy is the Diane Arbus of the GDR. She was born in Erfurt in 1954, moved to East Berlin at the age of 18 and began to capture the outsiders and outcasts of the broken city center with her camera. (Always using a Nikon FE that a friend smuggled across the border from West Berlin.)
In an interview I did with Gundula Schulze Eldowy a few years ago, I asked her why she particularly focused on people on the margins of society. And she said: "For me they were the opposite of political Berlin and the opposite of strict government authority. They were authentic, spontaneous, lively, had a striking sense of humor and no sense of belonging. I felt completely at ease among them.”
In 1985 she met the Swiss American photographer Robert Frank (known for his book “The Americans”). He was visiting East Berlin and wanted to meet young artists. One of them was Gundula Schulze Eldowy. He was fascinated by her photos. What she portrayed was not a utopia, but the strangeness, loneliness and absurdity of being human.
After their first encounter, he returned to New York City and they began writing to each other. The exchange with Robert Frank was not without danger. Gundula Schulze Eldowy was accused of being a CIA agent and was placed under close surveillance.
Luckily the wall came down in 1989. Gundula boarded a plane and immediately went to visit Robert Frank. She stayed with him for months, fell in love with his son, met his wife June Leaf and his friend Allen Ginsberg. She explored New York and the art scene until one day it occurred to her: I feel like a tiger in a capitalist cage.
She continued her journey, lived for a while in Egypt, stayed in Turkey and Japan. At the moment she lives in Peru. Always following her grandmother's advice: “In my generation, women couldn't become anything, and it was tough in your mother's generation too, but now is the time when you can grab everything life has to offer. So, go ahead and don't look back.”
Coffee & Sandwiches
I admire writers who can work in cafés. Unfortunately I can't do that. I am too distracted by life around me. In order to write, I need silence and I need to be alone. Sometimes libraries work. But cafés are purely for pleasure. I prefer small places where you get to know the owner after a while and have a favorite dish that you keep coming back for.
In Berlin my café of choice is Isla in Neukölln. Peter Duran and his staff are incredibly mindful about their craft. The coffee is perfection and their grilled kimchi cheese sandwich would need its own eulogy (but this is just a newsletter).
In Istanbul, my favorite café is Nørre in Çukurcuma. It's tiny and very cozy. It reminds me a little of Isla. Both have a beautiful storefront and the best place to sit is at the small bar behind the window, watching the world go by. Alican Tankoş, Aslıhan Seğmen and Can Gördoğa have created a simple menu of classic toste and Scandinavian-inspired dishes that you could make at home, but they just do it so much better.
Keep a stiff upper lip!
xCarolin
„So, go ahead and don't look back.” 💖