Life is a Vase, In Berlin!

Photography: Marcus Hay

Photography: Marcus Hay

Photography: Marcus Hay

Photography: Marcus Hay

Photography: Marcus Hay

Photography: Marcus Hay

Photography: Marcus Hay

Photography: Marcus Hay

My what a year in Berlin can produce! My dear friends Neill Seeto and Damien Miller celebrated their first year living in Berlin and I was lucky enough to be able to meet many of their friends in Berlin and celebrate it with them in their amazing apartment located in Mitte, In Eastern Berlin just last week on my European vacation. I had visited them last year also in 2010, but as yet they had not moved into their current apartment, nor did they have many belongings or furniture either having waited to set up home officially in their new space.

Last year Neill and I had trawled the Flea Markets in Berlin, Having been a seasoned Flea Marketer I was ready, willing and able to collect as much German ceramics as I could stuff into my hand luggage, I would never have expected however a somewhat newbie like Neill to have amassed in a year such a passion for collecting and a knowledge of German ceramics that maybe even surpasses my own. Now I knew there were bargains to be had but with a keen eagle eye and an ability to haggle like there was no tomorrow, Neill has collected and cleaned up with such speed and tenacity, it is truly admirable.

In their Berlin apartment once habituated by German Fashion Designer Wolfgang Joop, Neill and Damien have carefully curated collections in themes of prized Rosenthal in particular. Pieces by Bjørn Wiinblad, Tapio Wirkkala and Bele Bachem. Also acquired in Berlin a fabulous Ingo Maurer bamboo fan light fitting, plenty of Royal Copenhagen, Poole, Murano and beautiful Danish furniture pieces, some bought indirectly from pieces that once sat in the Danish Embassy in Berlin.

I was blown away, I thought that I had the bug, Neill used to tease me about all my “dust collecting” collections but it seems times have changed, ha ha! : ) I certainly felt right at home surrounded by this mass collection of vases and I am so glad to have a fellow appreciator and collector, We joked that we now live our lives through vases, Can a type of spirituality be found in these vessels for flowers, what is their appeal? ..Perhaps I will save this concept for another post : )     


PS: Neill, a Fashion Model expert also has an amazing knowledge of fashion models and has a blog devoted to the subject, check it out at inoubliablemodelarmy.blogspot.com