Book: Freunde von Freunden
![An opened book](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/UbEEC8AiJxMQFAr73Rtg79-415-80.jpg)
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
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
New Louis Poulsen book explores the Danish lighting company's illuminating world
Louis Poulsen: First House of Light, published by Phaidon, is a new design book delving into the Danish company's world of radiant lighting
By Jens H Jensen Published
-
‘What We Keep’: 50 creatives on the objects they collect and use in their homes
‘What We Keep’ is a new book by Jean Lin, founder of the New York City design gallery Colony, an ode to objects and the people who obsessively collect them
By Diana Budds Published
-
Sir Kenneth Grange’s influential industrial designs are chronicled in a new book
‘Kenneth Grange: Designing the Modern World’ explores the life and work of the pioneering British industrial designer
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
LA gallery Blackman Cruz celebrates 30 years of ‘beauty, oddity, and specialness’
‘Beauty & Mischief: The Design Alchemy of Blackman Cruz’ is a new book that charts three decades of the LA antique and modern furniture gallery, with a foreword by Ryan Murphy
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
From the spoon to the city: the design of Gianfranco Frattini
‘Gianfranco Frattini. Design 1955/2003’ is a new book chronicling the architect and designer’s work as well as his concept of designing ‘from the spoon to the city’
By Cristina Kiran Piotti Published
-
Inside Salvador Dalí’s eccentric Portlligat home
Salvador Dalí's eccentric Portlligat home is the subject of ‘Casa Dalí’, a new book by Apartamento with photography by Coco Capitán
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
A new book charts the history of Black design
'Now You See Me! An Introduction to 100 Years of Black Design' is a new book by Charlene Prempeh covering fashion, architecture and design
By Shawn Adams Published
-
Ronan Bouroullec book merges art, design and everyday life
‘Ronan Bouroullec: Day After Day’, from Phaidon, is a visual inventory of the French designer’s work, artistic output and daily inspiration
By Rosa Bertoli Published