I don’t know how many of you know Struwwelpeter. Struwwelpeter is a collection of stories of misbehaving children and the disasterous consequences which followed. Think Grimm’s fairytales….but much Grimmer (Ha…you see what I did there!!).

Well, when I was in Frankfurt recently I stumbled upon the Struwwelpeter Museum. On 4 floors you can learn everything about Struwwelpeter, Suppen Kaspar, Hans-Guck-in-die-Luft as well as the author Heinrich Hoffmann.

As a native German of some age now, I remember these stories all too well and consequently must have been a complete angel as a child as I’m sure my parents can confirm. Ahem.

Struwwelpeter Museum
Schubertstr. 20
60325 Frankfurt am Main
Tel.: +49 (0)69 747969

Today’s treasure are a couple of pictures of lovely old East German motorbikes!!

Is this possibly the coolest Pizza Place EVER?? Unfortunately it was closed so I can’t comment on the quality of the pizzas but who cares when it looks like this.

When I went to Leipzig last October to check out a small design fair called Designers’ Open, I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Natalie & Matthias who make the beautiful Oldtimer Wooden Toys we’ve been selling for a few months now.

We had a nice chat and it’s always great to meet people who are equally as passionate about what they do as we are. Keep up the good work!!!

The fair on the other hand….well, let’s just say there is room for improvement. A LOT of room!!!

When I saw pictures of this a couple of years ago it went straight onto my ‘must see’ list and considering it is in Duisburg, which is only half an hour away from my parents’ house in Germany, it clearly was only a matter of time.

Well, I was in Germany again last weekend and finally made it and it is AMAZING!! This walkable roller coaster is the work of artists Heike Mutter und Ulrich Genth and is built on a mount of rubble dug up by local coal mines (of which there were plenty).

Thankfully it was a miserable day so no-one was around and we had it almost all to ourselves!!

As you know I like a bit of writing occasionally. Unfortunately I don’t do enough of it but when I get asked, I’m usually more than willing to oblige. So I was more than thrilled to write this little story of my recent trip to Berlin and the DMY Design Fair for the fabulous online magazine Sight Unseen which is run by long time friends Jill and Monica. Anyway, check it out and let me know what you think.

Oh, and while you’re at it, I’ve also covered the Lodz Design Festival for them last year.

Enjoy!

I do love a good weird museum and to be honest, it doesn’t get much better or weirder than this little treasure. And when it comes recommended to me by Moritz Waldemeyer it was guaranteed not to disappoint.

So when I was in Berlin recently, I made sure to check out The Surreal Museum for Industrial Objects, also known as Designpanoptikum. It’s a random collection of Industrial Design obects arranged in a not so random manner.

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I don’t think I can ever visit Germany without eating a Currywurst at least twice!! And when it’s organic and served out of a beautiful refurbished Airstream caravan it’s got to be a winner.

I saw this in Cologne during their annual furniture fair and to my surprise Benbergs Benys is run by an old friend. I think if I ever need a career change I might possibly consider getting myself a mobile Currywurst Stall. The only problem with that is that I’d probably eat all the stock.

You can find Benbergs Benys from Monday – Friday in Dortmund on Europaplatz.

I saw this amazing set of mosaics on a 1970′s East German office block in Potsdam recently. It’s called ‘Man conquers Space’ (Der Mensch bezwingt den Kosmos) by artist Fritz Eisel. You really can’t get much more Socialist than that.

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Afri Cola is Germany’s answer to Coca Cola but is just that little bit cooler!!

This year is Afri Cola’s 80th birthday (it was first registered in 1931) and is still sold in the classic bottle which was designed in 1962 by Professor Jupp Ernst.

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