Jenne Grabowski

musician and designer – Berlin

“I like stories, and I am a storyteller in my particular way either when I am playing music or making design or art,” says Jenne Grabowski about himself. And be sure, you can’t slow him down: Jenne is a Berlin-based musician, a designer and the founder and art director of JB. Magazine, an indie magazine which celebrates the interplay of the arts, music and street culture. It’s all about movement, change and creative visions but never about giving yourself up to the fast pace of life today. His topics are well-chosen and include extensive interviews with a personal touch, loads of art, photos and selected works.

Whenever Jenne is not busy searching for interesting people and topics or working on a new design project, you can find him either on the skateboard or behind the mixing desk. He has been playing all around Germany, i.e. some of Berlin’s most well-know clubs like WMF, Panorama Bar, Bar 25, Café Moskau, Watergate or Cookies. Also, Jenne acted as the tour DJ of The Whitest Boy Alive on their “The Patience” tour through Germany. This circumstance gets us down to a beautiful liaison between three of our supporters: Jenne is friends with DENA and hand in glove with Marcin Oz and we are glad to have found supporters in all of them, true to the motto: “Support each other. Together we are strong!”

A very warm welcome!

What is more important to you, the sense of taste or sight? 
If I’d loose sight, I would still be able to taste all the yummy food. Or I could still see the sun shining while everything tastes neutral. Damn, both are important and I hope I can keep those senses forever.

You are a creative person. What is your vision for your personal work?
I want people to explore a little something that could be common or special, to find something of themselves. I like stories, and I am a storyteller in my particular way either when I am playing music or making design or art. Balancing humour and seriousness, relevance and vanity, extent and detail.

JB. Magazine covers the arts, music, and street culture. Is it your personal mouthpiece? Who do you want to reach and what is your intention?
Yes, you can call it my personal mouthpiece that is influenced by a bunch of people, animals, things and whatever involved, making it happen. JB. is about telling stories. The stories of others, my personal stories, those of my friends, of dreams and how we shape our reality. I want JB. to reach out to people that are awake and share a sense of awareness while I am not focussing too much on a particular culture. Of course, sharing certain kinds of interests makes me able to connect more easily with other people, and this is important to me. It fills this project with power. When I think of the magazine and the potential reader, I don’t know anything about the person flipping or reading or wandering through our editorial world. But if I reach out to people who are not necessarily using the same colors to paint that I would, but making them think about the colors or listen to a sound that hasn’t been audible in their lives before, then that would be one very important accomplishment.

To what extent does Berlin, your place of residence, exert influence on your work but also your personal way of life?
It surely does, but after such a long time living in Berlin, I cannot state the extent of it anymore. I have family in this town, so many friends, skate-spots, art, music or work, the countryside around where I am meeting foxes and squirrels and trying to hang with beavers… Everyone has a large share at it. Kreuzberg is my home, it’s the basis of my current chapter in life but I am always eager to wander out to explore new places and spaces, close and far away.

„We slow down when everything is going fast“ – this sentence is part of your mission statement and seems to reflect your main intention. What is your personal advice for coming down?
We love what we do and we are progressing and moving in the forward direction. But we are not submitting ourselves to the fast-moving nature of our world and to the compulsion of cultural change. Though the only constant is change, we are taking it really easy. Both feet on the ground as we can’t fly. Well, sometimes we can… If something is not happening now, we can wait with ease for another good moment because the next moment will always be the best.

Print was declared dead when online magazines got stronger and stronger. But you still believe in the power of print. What makes it so unique to you?
“Punk was dead when the first punk said: Punk is dead!” This is nothing nostalgic, it is a serious thing. Somehow we are fulfilling a desire that had been there for so long. It is also the wish to have something real in a digitized world. We are digitizing our brains day in day out. It is something for the tactile perception. Watching, reading, cutting, folding, tearing out a piece of art and altering it into new art, or hanging it on the wall, sharing issues or articles, burning the paper. It’s like having sex instead of thinking of it. Sometimes the thought is enough, but reality can be pretty sweet.

What is the most beautiful thing you ever saw?
I love and hate superlatives. And it’s hard to pin down a single moment or thing to claim it the most beautiful. But I would say it was the birth of my son Henri, because this magic was not happening on this planet.

What would you like to see more often?
People with courage and presence. James Turrell skyspaces. The real mountains. Or a James Turrell skyspace in the mountains, like the one in Switzerland I found last summer. The sea. The skateboard under my feet. My friends that I love but live to far away, even just to see them for a high five…

What do you prefer: sunrise or sunset?
I love both. Including the twilight. Sunset is about ending, which can be really dramatic. But the aesthetic, the transition is such a beautiful thing. The sunrise is always the beginning of something new. The unfolding, the flourishing, watching it all grow and not knowing where it will take us.

When was the last time you gave back and what did you do?
Giving should be natural in order to receive. But always without expecting anything in return.

What is your tactic for making the world a better place?
Staying in the now and keeping in my mind that life is actually about nothing. No faster, stronger, better, whatever. It all just happens in its own pace. Just give up! That is the formula.

Who is your personal hero?
No glorifying, but it could be a long list. If I think of someone next door, it would be my son who just drew me a complex weather chart, my good friend who just borrowed me a piano or the other who connected me to one of my most favorite street photographer from New York!

What is your picture/sound for IWISHUSUN?
Picture: the fall leaves and the golden sun in the woods the other day.
Sound: the sound of my skateboard I am riding on down the street by the sea while I am humming.

Did we forget to mention that Jenne takes beautiful pictures, too?! Check out his photos here.

We are thrilled to be able to present our first creative partner project and our first short film, the result of a cooperation between two ambassadors of our steadily growing network: “In a Creative Dialogue – Robot Koch x Sabrina Theissen for IWISHUSUN.”

Berlin-based composer and music producer Robot Koch and the photographer Sabrina Theissen got together to take a look at the topic of sight, which IWISHUSUN has dedicated its work to, from an unusual perspective. Robot Koch provided his brand new song “Jupiter”, for the project, which Sabrina Theissen used to garner inspiration, answering with her photographic tryptich, shown above.  The sky and the sun are the determining motifs, which, in a similarly minimalist way as the song by Robot Koch, are captured only indirectly by reflection, allowing the greatest possible space for the unexpected aspects of ones own interpretations in their complete reduction – a playing field for one’s own way of seeing and perspectives.

This process and the thoughts of the two IWISHUSUN ambassadors are documented in intense imagery in Editude Pictures’ short film, “In a Creative Dialogue – Robot Koch x Sabrina Theissen for IWISHUSUN”:

Our thanks to Robot Koch, Sabrina Theissen as well as Frederic Leitzke and Andreas Lamøth from Editude Pictures, who captured the creative exchange in moving images. 

You can read the IWISHUSUN interviews with Robot Koch, Sabrina Theissen and Editude Pictures here.

Did you know that our friend, film producer and co-founder of Editude Pictures, Frederic Leitzke, is also a DJ? As one half of the duo, Jazoburbs, or as efalive, he has been bringing beats to crowds since 2003. Now Freunde von Freunden, an international interview magazine that portraits people of diverse creative and cultural backgrounds in their homes or within their daily working environments but presents its own mixtapes on the corresponding blog, too, asked Frederic to select his favorite songs. The result is a mixtape which is definitely worth a listen, featuring Mount Kimbie, Schwarz Dont Crack, Super Flu, &ME among others.

Listen to Frederic’s Freunde von Freunden Mixtape #65 here:

Frederic Leitzke’s Mixtape #65 tracklist:

01. Schwarz Dont Crack – Charade (Adana Twins On A Lonely Night Remix) /Kitsune, 2013/
02. Hanne & Lore – My Oh My /Monaberry, 2013/
03. Ten Walls – Requiem /Life And Death, 2013/
04. Mario Aureo & Manuel Moreno – Arosis (Sebo Remix) /Ritter Butzke Studio, 2013/
05. Chasing Kurt – Lose Myself /Suol, 2013/
06. Kölsch ft. Troels Abrahamsen – All That Matters (andhim Remix) /Kompakt, 2013/
07. Mount Kimbie – Made To Stray (DJ Koze Remix) /Warp, 2013/
08. Super Flu ft. Monkey Safari – Me Roar /Monaberry, 2013/
09. Riva Starr ft. Rssll – Absence (Adam Port Remix) /Snatch! Records, 2013/
10. &ME – Shallow /Keinemusik, 2013/
11. Matt Karmil – Reverse Peephole /IRR, 2013/

Check out Frederic’s interview with IWISHUSUN here.

Moreover, Frederik Frede who co-founded the website Freunde von Freunden showed his colours for IWISHUSUN, too. Read his interview here.

Frederic Leitzke & Andreas Lamoth

filmmakers & co-founders of Editude Pictures – Berlin

Together they are strong! Frederic Leitzke and Andreas Lamoth co-founded their own film production company Editude Pictures in late 2010. What started as a more or less improvised coalition of five friends, slowly but surely evolved into a young promising company. While music and art are definitely prioritised, both of them have also corporately worked for brands like Coca Cola, Levis, Red Bull and Converse. Nevertheless what we love the most are their urban films which are filled with their passion for street art, illustration, urban culture and music. No surprise that they are best-known for these kind of interactions. Their documentation of Berlin’s creative scene, “In The Belly Of A Whale,” is their first film and at the same time a foundation for many video works that followed.

While their first documentation strung together various filmic portraits of Berlin’s art scene members and is still complemented by new episodes, Frederic and Andreas also worked for our friend and music producer Robot Koch in the past. To unlock the exciting potential which arises from our creative supporters we teamed up with Editude Pictures and two of our other dear ambassadors – beautiful project which we will showcase very soon. Stay tuned!

In the meantime welcome Editude Pictures as one of our supporters!

You are filmmakers and therefore sight must be a very important sense to you. What other sense couldn’t be missed in your life? Why?
Andy: It’s really hard to imagine a life without any of my senses, but besides my eyes I would miss my ears the most of all I guess. For me vision is strongly connected to hearing which you can see in almost all of our films: Sound and especially Music is so important to set the right tone for moving images and are unseperable in my eyes.
Fredi: That’s for sure. Besides that I would probably miss tasting the most, because my hobby cooking wouldn’t make much “sense” anymore I guess.

What is your vision for your personal work? 
Andy: I hope to be working more in the field of documentaries in the future. There are tons of lives and people out there who are worth being banned to film and who’s stories are worth beeing told.
Fredi: Documentaries are very important to us for sure. Since our first film “In The Belly Of A Whale” lots of good things happened and we got great feedback for our work. That’s definitely a vision. Always try to do stuff that makes people happy, that entertains people, that has a purpose, that somehow “remains” in that crazy fast moving digital world.

Your personal opinion: what makes a good film? 
Andy: Authenticity. Most of the big blockbuster movies simply have no heart and are only produced for making money. So I really prefer movies with smaller or even no budgets for which the filmakers had to make a big creative effort to get it done.
Fredi: The story. Always the story. In the past, the story was the most important thing in a movie. Movies were made because writers and directors had things to say. Today it’s more about pleasing the market, the industry, the crowd with crazy effects, pompous settings, big stars, telling the same stupid stories again and again, using every cliché available. Of course today still many nice movies are made, but really good and innovative screenplays are definitely more rare than in the last century.

What filmmakers have inspired you lately?
Andy: I love Wes Anderson and am really looking forward to his new movie in January. Besides that I am really into short documentaries about everyday life, which you can find very easily by independent and hobby filmers on Vimeo.
Fredi: Yeah, Wes Anderson for sure. The filmmaker who inspired me the most recently was Malik Bendjelloui, director of the masterpiece “Searching for Sugar Man”. A man with an – again – absolutely amazing story, without a big budget, with lots of struggles during the production but with a strong vision and impressive skills succeeds in the end, brings his vision to the screen and creates one of the most beautiful documentaries ever made.

What themes do you find yourself exploring over and over again?
Both: We have a really strong bond into Berlin’s art scene, so it’s almost natural that we are exploring themes like creativity, making a living from what you love and collaborations between different kinds of people in our films. Besides that we are planing a new documentary about the new age of making music – hopefully we will start filming in 2014, watch out!

What is the most beautiful thing you ever saw?
Andy: That’s a tough one. I believe when you look close enough you can find beautiful things happening around you everyday, even (often mostly) in the most random and trivial situations.
Fredi: Impossible to answer.

Sunrise or sunset – what do you prefer?
Andy: Sunrise.
Fredi: Sunset.

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?
Both: We don’t think it’s fair trying to tell a blind person what the world looks like. We would rather try to find advantages which blind people have. For example we believe they have no problems with prejudice and are able to experience the world in very different but also exciting ways.

What would you like to see more often?
Andy: Justice.
Fredi: Humility.

What is your tactic for making the world a better place?
Andy: There is so much screwed up stuff happening around us that one person really can’t handle all types of it. So I guess you just have to concentrate on 2 or 3 things that matter most to you and try to make a change. Lately I am trying to boycott mass animal farming by not eating any meat no more; it’s really hard to see animals suffering because of massive exorbitance in our ways of living.
Fredi: Making the world a better place is a hard task. I rather focus on little things in my daily surroundings, that you really can influence and that make a small difference. Treat people nicely and with respect, be honest, be humble to the environment and in my daily life. Things like that.

When was the last time you gave back and what did you do?  
Andy: I am trying to support Unicef on a regular basis to help them fight the problem of stranded refugees all over the world.
Fredi: The last time? I guess that was some money I gave to the fantastic street musician on Warschauer Straße, that I pass every morning.

concert promoter & agent and CEO of MCT Agentur – Berlin

Scumeck Sabottka knows them all: as a concert promoter and agent who founded the online ticket sale tickets.de and is co-founder of MCT Agentur in Berlin, he has overseen the German tours of the likes of Arcade Fire, Atoms For Peace, Florence & The Machine, Pearl Jam, Kraftwerk, Lenny Kravitz, Marilyn Manson, Tom Waits, Moby, Radiohead, Rammstein, Robbie Williams and many more. Even though he has been involved in music professionally since the early 1980s (and a music lover for much longer) and back then worked with great musicians from all over the world – Einstürzende Neubauten and Ramones to name two of our favourites -, Sabottka has also proved himself a talented photographer as well as being truly big-hearted. While his eyes catch beautiful views of landscapes, human faces, cities and, of course, concerts to translate them into photographs, Scumeck Sabottka is very engaged in social activities too. In addition to showing social responsibility by supporting the organisations Amnesty International and Make Poverty History on his website, he also founded his own website: Remember Chernobyl, a platform that reminds us of the disaster of Chernobyl as well as the fight against its aftermath.

We are very happy to welcome this fascinating Berliner onto our list of friends and supporters. Immerse yourselves in his world and learn more about Scumeck Sabottka in our interview. A very warm welcome!

You are a concert promoter & agent and therefore hearing must be a very important sense to your work. What other sense couldn’t be missed in your life? Why?
All of them really – to see an artist or a band, to smell a venue and the fans, to hear the music — all of those senses are used when visiting a concert and these senses make the concert an experience.

Your work mainly focuses on the acoustical side of life. But how does your personal life sound like?
Music and sounds follow me throughout my entire live – I collect cars and motorbikes because of their look but also because of their sounds ….

Your personal evergreen?
Musicwise – Paul Desmond forever !

What is your sound for IWISHUSUN?
The sound of wind and waves, of trees and barking dogs…..

You are a creative person and have organised numerous tours of well-known bands and musicians. What is your vision for your personal work?
To archive the best in my field by offering fairness and understanding to the people I am dealing with; to learn from the vision of the artists I represent and to bounce back those visions in my head to make them a reality.

You oversee concerts but at the same time you show social responsibility not only by featuring several organisations such as Amnesty International and Make Poverty History but also by founding Remember Tschernobyl. Is this your tactic for making the world a better place?

I feel , that even by the smallest effort, we can make the world a better place and I try and push the envelope to everyone around me to share the love and experience I receive when being rewarded.

When was the last time you gave back and what did you do?
I wish not to brag about my social doings but like to say, that it is very rewarding to offer a helping hand; whether this is in our neighbourhood or in far away places, I enjoy learning of people who are in need.

Who is your personal hero?
The unnamed liquidators of Chernobyl.

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?
As the most beautiful music/sound they ever heard !

What is the most beautiful thing you ever saw?
The architecture in Brasilia by Oscar Niemeyer & Lúcio Costa – truly breathtaking.

What would you like to see more often?
The ocean.

Sunrise or sunset – what do you prefer?
Sunset for sure – especially on the beach in Rio de Janeiro.

Photo: Anton Corbijn.

Not only that IWISHUSUN ambassador and highly talented musician Aloe Blacc just released his new album “Lift Your Spirit,” the singer and rapper will also appear at the Apple Store Kurfürstendamm in Berlin tomorrow. From 7 pm on Aloe Blacc will talk about his new album and his most recent chart-topping collaboration with Avicii, “Wake Me Up!”

This event will be in English. Tickets are free but you need to be booked in advance. If you happen to be in Berlin, get your ticket here.

Also, you can listen to his new album here. Amnd don’t miss to check out his interview with IWISHUSUN and learn more about his thoughts on life, a better society or his vision for his personal work: “My personal work has one simple focus, which is to create happiness. I want to have joy in my life and create joyful experiences for others. I can do this through music and through the social influence I earn from fans.” Read more here.

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.

Tonight Boiler Room Berlin will host a new edition of their underground music shows and our ambassador Robot Koch will be part of it! Along with Kyson, Perera Elsewhere and Sarah Farina the Berlin-based music producer and composer will be spinning tonight. Tune in tonight and watch his live music from home.

If you haven’t already done so, check out Robot Koch’s interview with IWSHUSUN here!

Once again Robot Koch makes our skin crawl: the Berlin-based composer, music producer and first and foremost a dear friend of IWISHUSUN whose songs like “Don’t Wake Me” casted a spell on us before presents a very new song. Not yet released, his track “Here With Me” was co-written and co-produced by Susie Suh and brings together a positive undertone, melancholy and yearning at the same time. Enjoy!

This summer Robert Koch popped in for an interview and showed his colours for IWISHUSUN. You can read the results here.

We avowed ourselves to be true fans of Aloe Blacc‘s work when we introduced the musician as a friend and supporter of IWISHUSUN (read his interview here) and now we have every reason for repeating it: This man got soul! After he released his latest single, “Wake Me Up” featuring Avicii, this summer, he went to the studio once again to record a live and acoustic version of “Wake Me Up”.

Watch the video here:

Aloe Blacc — Wake Me Up (Live / Acoustic / 2013) – MyVideo
Photo: Screenshot.