We are part of STYLE.DE’s top photos of the year. Find all the pictures here.
Thanks so much, girls – we look forward to 2014 and more exciting projects coming up!
Katja Schweitzberger
editor-in-chief of LesMads, fashion blogger & music lover – Berlin
Katja Schweitzberger may be an expert when it comes to fashion but she is also a music lover – we share our love for the “good tunes” of the 60s and 80s, our passion for bands like The Rolling Stones, The Cure, The Smiths and all the other indie bands that followed decades later but were obviously inspired by these idols. Katja, who studied English as well as German language and literature, is also editor-in-chief of one of Germany’s most renowned blogs, LesMads, where she took over the reins from its founders Julia Knolle and Jessica Weiß in late 2011. Always in search of the latest news in fashion, the loveable Berliner-by-choice keeps us up to date on topics that turn LesMads into a daily must-read.
Combining her two passions, Katja Schweitzberger found her own aesthetic language that reveals different influences: her love of indie music and films as well as her interest in new designers, collections, textile experiments and fashion treasures. The result is a very clean but always individual style that is half sporty, half chic. We appreciate all the more the fact that we saw Katja wearing our logo T-shirt earlier this year, wishing you sun from Hamburg’s music festival Dockville, and it’s obvious she is well aware of the impact of images, of sight and visual impressions! Now Katja has finally popped in for an interview and we are happy to share it with you. A very warm welcome!
What is more important to you, the sense of taste or sight?
Why?
The sense of sight. Though I love to eat – and of course taste – seeing is far more important for me. It is the only way to fully enjoy the things I love the most: fashion, movies, photography.
You are a creative person. What is your vision for your personal work?
I won’t say that I have a concrete vision for my personal work. A vision can also limit you. I just want to experience and learn as much as possible. And of course make our readers happy.
Your work mainly focuses on the visual side of life. But how does your life sound like?
That’s a tough question. I am not sure if anyone else but me would enjoy that soundtrack. Let’s say it’s a mix of The Cure, Gesaffelstein, Billy Idol, M.I.A., Fleetwood Mac and Die Antwoord.
We share our passion for music, especially bands of the 1960s and 1980s. Do you think the world was a better one back then?
I don’t think that the world in general was better back then but the music certainly was. Today music – especially pop music – doesn’t have the same value anymore. People just search for entertainment and want to have a good time. They don’t really care about what kind of music is playing when they are going out for example. And this reflects on the music. It’s not made to last. A lot of it is boring and disposable. You usually forget about the latest hit within a week. Or hear more about the performer’s (see Miley Cyrus, Rihanna or Madonna) private life than about their music.
Your personal evergreen?
I have so many evergreens. Today I pick Rod Stewart’s “Young Turks.”
What is your sound for IWISHUSUN?
I don’t quite know why but I was just thinking about something warm and soft and then the sound of Feist came to my mind. I haven’t heard her music for quite some time but somehow I think she fits.
Blind people and those who can see surely experience the world in different ways. How would you describe the world to someone who suffers from an irreversible loss of the ability to see in one sentence?
The world is a crazy beautiful place and if you can’t see it with your own eyes, experience it with the help of your loved ones.
What is the most beautiful thing you ever saw?
Peta Loudhes, the valley of the butterflies in Rhodes.
What would you like to see more often?
The sea.
What is your tactic for making the world a better place?
Listening to people.
When was the last time you gave back and what did you do?
I donated clothes to the Skyy swap market. The proceeds of the event went to Berlin Aids-Hilfe e.V.
Who is your personal hero?
Grace Coddington.
Sarah Gottschalk
co-founder of This is Jane Wayne, blogger & economic journalist, Berlin
Sarah Gottschalk, co-founder and author of the This is Jane Wayne blog, has, over the last three years created a digital as well as analogue German fashion microcosm comprising fashion news, personal opinions, music, film and art tips as well as private experiences – a window into the world of the two Berliners-by-choice, that tempts us into daily visits to their site.
But this hadn’t been her plan all along: as a trained economic journalist she once dreamed of a journo career at the Handelsblatt newspaper. But then everything turned out differently: with her childhood friend Nike van Dinther at her side she founded This Is Jane Wayne in 2010 and moved to Berlin. What she has retained from her university course is her clear critical view, which is perhaps what differentiates the two writers from many other fashion blogs: they are not afraid to ask the difficult questions: “H&M, where and how are you producing our products? We can’t reconcile shopping in Zara with our conscience.” It’s for exactly this kind of intelligent reporting that we rate Sarah so highly and are very happy to introduce her as a supporter of IWISHUSUN. A warm welcome!
Which of the senses is more important to you, seeing or hearing? And why?
Oh jeez, that’s a really tricky question. But if I really had to choose, I would choose hearing. Sound, language and music helps us develop our own pictures in our heads – it’s what allows us to interpret what we see, after all.
You are a creative person. What vision motivates you in your work?
My own vision is actually quite unspectacular: I want to be happy and make other people happy too. Enriching people through my work or showing them new things makes me happy and drives me.
Even though a lot of work and meaning is put into the content, a blog is primarily a visual medium. How important is its visual aspect for you? How would you describe your own visual language?
The visual aspect is incredibly important and is becoming more so – especially when you look at Tumblr and Instagram. Via images I have the chance to reach readers and attract their attention. My visual language always follows a certain structure, is relatively organised and structured – almost clean. I love to create constantly changing collages with beautiful images. Which, by the way, sometimes takes just as long as writing the actual text. I tinker with it until I am satisfied.
Can it be reconciled with the life you live outside the internet?
Hmmm, that isn’t a clear yes or no answer – more a maybe. Yes, because I am a rationally thinking person and try to maintain order in my life. No, because I never attain my own high standards and always come late and have the ability to reduce my flat to a pile of rubble in a matter of hours.
Your pictorial style has changed quite radically over the last few years, and with your relaunch this month it has been updated again. Can you give us a quick description of the development and different phases?
It’s a perfectly normal process of self-discovery, where we react to the entire range of developments in the blog arena and it probably also has something to do with our age. We have become more grown up, work more professionally (because we’ve been doing it for three years now) but nevertheless don’t completely want to lose the girlish-childlike aspect. Voilà: the new/old Jane Wayne.
As a seeing person it is hard, if not impossible, to imagine the world from the perspective of a blind person, and the same applies in reverse. How would you describe our world and surroundings to a blind person?
I would tell them only of the beautiful things: of meadows full of flowers, historic buildings, of the ocean and friendly people. I don’t think you actually have to become blind in a physical sense – sometimes we all become blind to the positive things and see only the problems and negative aspects. I would push the weeds aside and perhaps discover in something initially ugly something truly amazing?
While we’re on the topic: What is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?
Australia! Australia is so beautiful, so multifaceted, and every place has different amazing aspects to it. Of course there are lots of tourists, and it was probably so much nicer hundreds of years ago but for me it was unbelievably beautiful, and yes, in part it still seems untouched!
What would you like to see more of?
Friendly people and the ocean.
Even though there is an increasing awareness for “fair” fashion, most clothing is still produced in less than ideal conditions. That’s exactly the situation that This is Jane Wayne often points out. What effect has it had on your own consumer behaviour?
Jane Wayne was and is a process, every day, and I am always learning. Whereas to begin with I didn’t really reflect on it and bought clothes without much thought, I do try to think more about the long term effects of what I buy and tend to invest more in favourite pieces that are perhaps more expensive but will be worn over many many years. And yes, there are more and more chains that I consciously avoid – whether or not that will change anything in terms of the big picture remains to be seen. But I don’t want to collude in that type of consumption anymore.
What is your tactic for improving the world?
Building up awareness. Making compromises and learning from mistakes. Not being judgemental and giving back. Whether it’s financial support for an NGO, buying someone who is homeless a cinnamon roll or donating old clothing. Doing good deeds starts within your own four walls and radiates outward incrementally – without any deed being any less important.
When did you last give back and with what?
I spent yesterday just listening to my best friend, cooking for her and trying to support her. Heartache combined with a fear of decisions for the future.
Who is your personal hero?
This sounds really cheesy, but it is my boyfriend. No one knows me as well as he does and can help me as easily. And you know, I am pretty hard work.
What is your image for IWISHUSUN?
A picnic in a field with paper lanterns strung in the trees and a plaid blanket and lots of happy people laughing and dancing!
2nd picture via Sarah_jane (Instagram).
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Katja Schweitzberger of LesMads, one of Germany’s most popular fashion blogs, wearing our IWISHUSUN logo T-shirts.
Get your own IWISHUSUN tee here and finance a pair of glasses for a school child in Bangladesh through the National Childhood Blindness Project (NCBP) from ORBIS, true to the motto “Buy a T-Shirt, improve a child’s sight”.
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Sara Chahrrour
founder of FindingBerlin, 80days.co & yeahsara.com; blogger, photographer, Cultural Science Studies student & enthusiastic traveller – Berlin
“Earth does not need new continents, but new men.” Without doubt, Sara Chahrrour, better known as Yeah Sara is one of those whose wanderlust seems to be unquenchable. After moving from Frankfurt to Berlin, the 24-year-old blogger, photographer and student of Cultural Science Studies dedicated a one-girl project to “one of the coolest cities on the planets” which recently became a multi-layered magazine though: FindingBerlin. Via photographs, videos and texts the ever growing group of friends shares their Berlin experiences, their raves, favourite spots and forays into the lesser known parts of the town with the world. Nevertheless, Sara will probably never run the risk to get stuck in the German capital.
For her various excursions into the outside world, Sara launched her own travel blog, 80days.co in early 2013. Focusing on traveling itself, we can follow her to different places, can watch her finding culinary happiness in Paris and Lisbon or traveling through Thailand, Amsterdam and Cologne, always in search of new adventures, cities’ graffitis and characteristics but also for dreamlike countrysides. In short: a “girl gone wide”, as Sara describes herself. But also a girl that has gone wild.
Sara has a background in Online Marketing, has been blogging “for a gazillion years for different magazines and projects and will soon run for president.” Now, she is also a supporter of IWISHUSUN. A warm welcome!
What is more important to you, the sense of taste or sight?
Why?
I couldn’t chose. I can taste the sun on my skin, and I will never want to miss the sight of a taste before I have it. It’s just impossible to say what is more important.
You are a creative person. What is your vision for your personal work?
The vision is to never be afraid to fail – if something is not worth continuing, if an idea that was once good turns bad, leaving it behind and starting something new is not equal to giving up – it’s evolution.
“Finding Berlin” and your own blog “80days” make clear: you love to travel, you love to take pictures and to share your trips with the world. Why?
I guess I was bored with high-res magazines without a narrative. I don’t want the best spots of a city summed up in a travel guide. I want to read and encounter personal stories and history of places. Nobody was doing that, so I made it my job. Someone had to, right?
Looking back, what turned out to be the best destination and how did you travel?
Backpacking was wild, definitely more adventurous and exciting. Backpacking South East Asia was a dream come true. But if I could ever afford to go back, I’d chose the Maldives on the highest luxury resort I can imagine. I’ve never seen pristine nature like this and I most likely never will again. It was amazingly beautiful and dreamlike. A place that combines both of my passions, comfort and adventure, is probably South Africa. Beautiful, rich in culture and nature, mesmerizing and exciting. But to be honest – the best destination is always my return trip home. I love Berlin. Nothing can take that away from me.
“80 days” documents your trips in a very personal way but intends to reflect traveling in our modern world as well. Regarding the general approach, what conclusion do you draw so far?
People expect too much from traveling. It can’t be everything – the mindset of a traveler, on the other hand, is. Be open about new things, but never put yourself under pressure to have life changing events. Usually, you’ll come back from a journey the same person, and to expect otherwise can be very depressing.
What is your tactic for making the world a better place?
Being nice. People deserve to be treated well. I might not be the best person in the world, but I like to treat people kindly, even if they don’t return the favor.
When was the last time you gave back and what did you do?
I asked my readers to share their life stories in the comments of my blog. For every comment, I donated 1 Euro to Reporters Without Borders. I did that because I wanted to know more about my readers (who know basically everything about me), who they are and what they do and why they read my blog, but I didn’t want them to waste their time just because I was curious. I think journalism is the most important and a critical sector of our time, I want to support that.
What is the most beautiful thing you ever saw?
The city of Damascus.
What would you like to see more often?
My mother.
Sunrise or sunset – what do you prefer?
Sunset.
What is your picture for IWISHUSUN?
The Earth, seen from above, with the sudden realization that everything is so small, and all the things that appear so big and problematic while on the ground become tiny, so tiny in the context of the big and vast universe. Suddenly everything is illuminated with love and light for this wonderful blue dot of our solar system.