My Glass Tour: Hello Berlin!
After spending two weeks in Småland on my glass tour, Sam and I hit the road back to Germany. We booked the evening ferry from Trelleborg to Rostock, leaving port at ten.
The next morning we rolled out of the belly of the ferry and drove along the countryside towards Berlin.
Hello Berlin! What a change of scenery. The vibrant cityscape of concrete and bustling streets replaced serenity and dense woods. The hunt was on to find parking. Bingo! Found a spot just in front of Claudia’s apartment (…but neglected to see that it was a bay for disabled people, and got a ticket.
We still had some time waiting for Claudia. Sam went to the post office and sent his works to Sofia. I hunted for a barber shop to get my mop cut back to shape.
Now we were ready to roll. After sorting the issue with our parking ticket, we drove to the apartment for our two nights in Kreuzberg.
Glass Art Society Conference, Berlin 2024
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- Berlin Glassworks
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- Wilhelm Hallen
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- Wilhelm Hallen
The 2024 GAS Conference theme is “Berlin: Where Art + Design Meet, focusing on the space where art meets design, the synergy between the two, and the relationships between artists and designers.” Registration opens on 13 November and promises “a fantastic conference program with thought-provoking lectures, cutting-edge demonstrations and lecmos, and exciting special events.” Hope to see you there.
Berlin Glassworks is a kick ass state-of-the-art hotshop, nestled in its own building on the Monopol terrain. It was great to meet with Vivi and Maya again, after Bild-Werk, and got to know several of the other crew members. Nadania was thrilled we made it, and invited us over for a “grill”, or braai, the next day.
Sam and I headed back to Kreuzberg that evening, exhausted but fired up. We grabbed a beer at one of the local “Spätis”, sat down on a bench and discussed the overwhelming info that the Lathe Riders will open the GAS conference. This conversation continued with us walking the streets until the early morning hours.
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- Kreuzberg
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- Kreuzberg
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- Kreuzberg
During our wanderings we discovered an old map hanging over a railing, on which we tracked our glass tour so far.
Glass Tour
The next morning (probably not so early) we met up at Berlin Glassworks to print some T-shirts with our now famous Grit & Wheels 23 logo. As luck would have it, Karl and Marie arrived and brought some T-shirts too. This remarkable French couple is traveling by camper-van visiting glass studios all over Europe. You can find out more about their travels here: Borsode
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- Marie & Karl with Sam
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- Printing Grit& Wheels T-shirts at Berlin Glassworks
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- Wilhelm Hallen
Letting the T-shirts dry, we headed over to the Wilhelm Hallen to see what the GAS conference space looks like. What an enormous place!! GAS 2024 will be a blast!
Then it was back to Berlin Glassworks at the Monopol precinct. The grill was on, and we had some time to peek into the other studios. We popped into this hidden “jungle area” and discovered the Berlin School of Sculpture.
Sightseeing?
Jesse Günther took us for a Monopol site seeing tour up into one of the massive halls. Seeing Berlin from a 360° view from the roof was a highlight.
360° view of Berlin from Monopol
Making the most of our limited time in Berlin, we enjoyed dinner with friends, which ended up in a “Rock Bar” until late. We just-just managed to catch the last train to the Ostkreuz Station, but when we got there the info signs switched off one after the other. Now it was time to either walk or take a taxi, or find a night bus.
We walked.
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- Looking over the Spree
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- Görlitzer Park
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- Oberbaum Bridge
This late night hike took us through a mist filled Görlitzer Park. As soon as we entered, one heard the melodic whistles of the park’s notorious business dealers, ominously conversing with another through the fog. We just kept marching on and made it safely back to the apartment…
Later that morning, we saddled up and hit the road back to Schiesheim.
