VISITING KARINA IN BERLIN-KREUZBERG #home #homeaccessories

We were visiting the wonderful Karina in Kreuzberg and are blown away by this apartment full of finds, stories and wonders. There is no corner where Karina and her husband Hubby did not mess around and have the apartment refurbished to a real gem. You can find Karina on Instagram at @kabeaux , because that's where we found her.

Dear Karina, would you like to introduce yourself?

K: I'm Karina from Bremen, online better known as @kabeaux and offline professionally and academically at TU Berlin. I like my Holland bike and I love the smell of roses, rainstorms, Rome and Rilke. I studied law and art history. Both subjects characterize me well and are also reflected in my home and in my everyday life again: I read a lot and like to watch pictures (for hours tumblrn with the Mac on my stomach is one of them). I need clear structures in everyday life, but the minimalism with me is limited to my wardrobe. At home I like it chaotic and prefer the electric approach when it comes to decorating my home. A style that has lingered far too long in the "interior storage room".

Since when do you live in this apartment?

K: I moved to Kreuzberg in 2008 after spending a year in Prenzlauer Berg. Priority was then only the proximity to friends and Berghain. Nobody wanted this apartment! Too high ceilings, located in the "ghetto", with a slate toilet and a yellow kitchen. The highlights were the white laminate and the purple walls with glitter dust. Very electric and exactly my thing ... haha!

With whom do you share your beautiful (awwww ...) four walls?

K: I live together here for eight years with my husband and my cat Milky Way. In our first summer, two cats came to us, one of whom stayed with us for four years. Unfortunately, Sigi succumbed to cancer. We mourned for a long time and never wanted to let a red hangover into our hearts again. Then Heini came. H for scoundrels, hooligan and heartbreaker. The focus of my Instagram account.

You have many art books and photographs hanging in your apartment. Are you an art lover?

K: Yes, since my childhood. I noticed one day that the boys on Botticelli's Madonna's pictures were very similar in the course of his painting career, and started using art literature in the school library because I suspected vampires were behind this mystery. My heart beats ever since for the Renaissance and Caravaggio. Over the years, I was also very inspired by Anton Corbijn and Chris Cunningham. I have to bow to Madonna and Tom Ford at this point too. Today I get sniffing at Christine and the Queens, Alessandro Michele (responsible for the current Gucci-Mania) or the work of Thomas Prochnow.

Who are your heroes?

K: My Ukrainian grandparents and my parents. My mom is a three-time Olympic champion in handball and the sportiest man next to Madonna. My man. A superhero, who not only helped a foreign au pair to a visa in Germany and a place to study, but at the same time taught a few bad people behavior, despite an 80 hour week. He can also cook ... A multi-tasking role model! I like to orientate myself on people who think beyond convention, offend others, against others and finally move things. At the age of 15, my personalities were more than 25 years old. Currently, I am working with Susan Sontag, Gertrude Stein and Adrienne Rich. These days many girl power roarand titled as feminists, alone for the one-time reading of Judith Butler. I still have to find out what exactly is behind it.

How do you prefer to spend a gray Sunday at home?

K: Lying! In the morning with coffee and a book and later in the day I click through photos of the past week of cats and the kids in my life, which I have shot with my Leica. Telephoning and Instagram is one of them. Of course everything in the horizontal. The evening will be launched with an order from the "Social Chinese". My husband and I are watching our shows separately, each in a room. I must confess, I would plan the day so in bright sunshine. Winter or midsummer makes no difference to us, because we want to spend the week over a lot of experience and with the cats time. On a sunny Sunday you will never meet me at the flea market or in the Prinzenbad, but most likely in the air-conditioned museum.

In which city do you feel most comfortable?

K: Hehehe ... For a while a big topic with me. I feel at home in Paris / Belleville. I've been looking for such a place forever. I started in my homeland, Kiev. Then Florence, Hamburg, East and West. It was not until the Seine that I got a sense of "home". I could never be bored in this city. It is this mix of traditions and the creative people that has kept Paris alive for centuries and that inspires me. An example: New Year's Eve often degenerates into stress, but in Paris I was looking forward to the day. Buy oysters and cheese in the morning. At lunchtime an eclair to fortify and off to Fauchon and Laduree to queuing for bread, biscuits and cake. Everyday becomes a feast. The subsequent walk through the Tuileries towards Shakespeare & Company remains in my memory forever. Most of all I enjoy the people and their incredible kindness. The wine at noon and on the rise of Republique to Boulevard Belleville. Thanks to pettiness, I get more energy in Paris than through music or fashion.

Which three things in your home would you never sell or give away?

K: Hahaha! I have so much stuff ... I would never sell one of the art or photo books, my engagement ring and Hubby's watch. I could do without the rest, plus one of my kidneys to keep the books. However, I would grieve for the Deyrolle butterflies, my cameras and the inherited Vivaldi plates. I do not even want to start with our shoes ...

What do you value if you want to buy new pieces of furniture?

K: Never on trends. Only on the homely feeling, which I get when I see a piece of furniture, a lamp or a textile. I know intuitively if something fits in the apartment or not, no matter how much Hubby struggles at first. He puts more emphasis on quality than me. For years, I've been picking at lamps, so we have none.

What do you really want to achieve this year?

K: Finish my application for Oxford. Strong enough for the Crow Pose (Yoga), start a Gilmore Girls Marathon, organize our wedding party and do a heart project with my second better half, Nes (@waldgalopp).

Some insider tips to try in Berlin?

K: Last year there were many friends and acquaintances in Berlin, all of whom I sent to the Pauly Hall for dinner. Many were still hanging out in the bar, some of them ordered a taxi to the furniture Olfe. Unfortunately no insider tips, but for me the best locations next to the Paris Bar and the terrace in the Soho house (Hello Ulla!). I also like the Golden Roosters. I like it less hip, but traditional when I'm in Berlin. My husband is an expert on Chinese food in different districts. He is the real insider. I like to hang out in front of the telly to discover something new in Berlin. I would be very happy about some insider tips for dancing. Anyone?

What pettiness make you happy?

K: Beeswax Candles, Reclam Editions and Fresh Linen - Sheets.

What do you like most about other people?

K: humor and openness. I do not mean extrovert personalities, but this mutual feeling that you are welded together, either for a few hours or for eternity to a small gang. For this we do not have to go through thick and thin together and steal the horses from other people. I also mean strangers who tell me about their trip to Vietnam on the train and together we shed tears at the memory of the beauty of Asia or are invited by a fabulous woman spontaneously for coffee, just because you wear the same, rare perfume as her mother. I can share stories, experiences and anecdotes and it does not matter to me whether I will see the person again or not. Just last week I laughed with two girls while shopping about my facial expression in the milk department. I do not know their names, I just like the twoAdventure Time and will always grin on a certain yogurt variety. An emotional memory always stays. Very Paris, unfortunately less Berlin.