From Place To Space: 25 Hours Hotel Bikini In Berlin

Last week I was off on a work mission in Berlin. Not for the blog but for my regular day job. However, I wouldn't be a blogger if I didn't try to squeeze in something that would yield a new story for my Happy Interior Blog. Given the fact that I was working from morning till evening in a studio producing some corporate videos, the only option I had was the hotel. So I did what a good interior design blogger has to do: I picked a hotel I would really love to visit and feature on my blog. Thus, I opted for the recently opened 25 Hours Hotel Bikini in Berlin.

I've already experience the 25 Hours Hotel in Hamburg, Germany, but every hotel of this cool design hotel chain has a different concept and tells a different design story. The new Berlin based hotel is in a historical building complex that is referred to by the Berliners as Bikini. It is located in the city's west between the landmarks Memorial Church and the famous Berlin zoo. Its peculiar location resulted in the hotel's design concept called 'Urban Jungle'. Now you can imagine that I as an Urban Jungle Blogger was all ears when the hotel's manager told me all about the story.

The concept was created by the famous German designer Werner Aissliger with an extended team including guest designers like the Japanese artist Yoshi Sislay who hand drew illustrations in every room and other public areas of the hotel. The juxtaposition of an urban life and the jungle vibe from the adjacent zoo led to a combination of urban materials, vibrant colours and lots of plants. While the rooms on the 'urban side' (facing the Memorial Church) use raw materials like concrete floor screed, copper and cooler colours, the 'jungle side' (facing the zoo) uses natural materials like wood and nature inspired colours with floor-to-ceiling windows and a hammock to relax and watch the monkey jump around in the zoo. 

It is the monkeys that also triggered the naming of the top floor hotel bar, the Monkey Bar. A big rooftop terrace and a relaxed atmosphere with warm hues, colorful furniture and lots of kilim cushions invites every guest to enjoy a drink while enjoying a bird's eye view over Berlin. For the hungry ones there is the wonderful Neni restaurant placed in a greenhouse on the top floor with an abundance of houseplants and delicious Middle Eastern influenced cuisine. 

The public area on the third floor includes a cool reception area made of old Berlin metro tiles, a bakery for a grab & go breakfast, working spaces, a music area, conference facilities, funky green public restrooms and a little design shop of the Berlin based Gestalten publishing house. On the ninth floor guests will find a little gym, a relax zone and a sauna overlooking the Berlin zoo - fancy!

All the above mentioned facts, the attached pictures and the very reasonable prices for a design hotel make the 25 Hours Hotel Bikini a perfect home base for your next Berlin trip. Thumbs up from my side!

Happy new week!

Photography by Igor Josifovic, design products shot by Gestalten

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From Place To Space: Stylish Weekend In Hamburg

I know, sometimes I am taking you back and forth to places I've visited, but I often feel that there is too much to tell and show for one single blogpost. So please excuse me if I am annoying you with repetitive visits to some places and spaces. As you might have seen in my blogposts HERE and HERE, I traveled to Hamburg for a design weekend last month. Not only did I enjoy a fun blogger event, but I also had the opportunity to discover a bit more of the maritime German city up in the north and meet up with some of my favorite local bloggers for a great dinner.

Today's blogpost I would really like to focus on two discoveries - the new yet raggedly looking harbour area of Hamburg and a fabulous design hotel - the 25hours Hotel - which is a great choice if you ever happen to travel to Hamburg.

Hamburg is a German city just like Munich where I live but oh so totally different. You can tell that Hamburg is a maritime place, especially when you walk around the harbour area with its brickwork buildings, the breezy waterfront, huge storehouses and numerous cruise liners and cargo ships. You can sort of smell the North Sea and feel the seamen's presence around every other corner. 

And in order to find the super stylish and designy '25hours Hotel' you just have to stay in the new harbour area. Actually, the hotel chain runs two houses in Hamburg, one hotel named 'Number One' in the city's hip Western borough Ottensen, and the second one named 'HafenCity' in the harbour area. I was actually staying in the former, whereas we had a fab blogger dinner in the latter (most of the pics are from the harbour area hotel).

I was quickly drawn to the hotel's design as I spotted many design classics, but I particularly loved the mix of styles and the reference to the location - the lobby features some old signage and containers from cargo ships and local wharves. A little design shop sells international design magazines, books and various home accessories as well as local (cool) souvenirs. To make the experience complete, I was smitten by a wonderful service and delicious cuisine - I am still dreaming of the incredibly good wild herbs salad with creamy goat cheese. If I wasn't munching on my ice cream right now while typing these words, I'd be drooling over my Macbook. But I digress.

If my words haven't convinced you, let the pictures speak for themselves and work the charm. Hamburg is definitely worth a city weekend - you won't be disappointed. And now, I will have to let you go back to your Monday routine - but don't forget to face the new week smiling and happily content!

Photography by Igor Josifovic

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From Place To Space: New Hotel, Athens

I am a lover of weekend city getaways where I am discovering new places, new designs, new treats. This time I was up for a prolonged design weekend in Athens, Greece. It was a sort of 'revisited' kind of getaway because I've been many times to Athens and a decade ago I used to live there as a student. Now it was time to visit some old friends, good old neighborhoods and discover a new design hotel - the 'New Hotel' in Athens' city center, a ten minutes walk from the famous Plaka and the Acropolis.

The 'New Hotel' belongs to the Greek hotel group YES! Hotels owned by one of the country's biggest art collectors and art connoisseurs. This fact has strongly influenced the hotel's design: The 'New Hotel' was exclusively designed by the Brazilian design brothers Campana in collaboration with Greek students from the art university in Volos. The design blends the old with the new, mixing modern design with three themes of traditional Greek folklore and lifestyle - the 'Evil Eye Protection', the 'Karagiozis' shadow theater, and old postcards from Athens.

There is one more interesting fact about the hotel. Formerly, this was the old Olympic hotel from the 1950s which was abandoned in the late 90s of the previous century. When YES! Hotels took over the property, it was completely redesigned with a strong reference to its origins. The Campana brothers used the old furniture to reinterpret a modern twist of the hotel's history - they broke up too worn pieces into wooden fragments and created sculptural elements in the restaurant and reception area called 'Favela' in reference to their iconic Favela chair. Other furniture pieces were upholstered and recreated into design pieces that are placed in the entire building.

The rooms, on the other hand, reflect a design concept called 'fragmented design'. With a sort of scissor cut edges and the use of bamboo wood and brass counteracted by Greek folklore elements, the rooms mirror Athens position as a traditional and modern European metropolis. On the top floor, the penthouse adds a notch to the design experience with a huge private balcony and the best views of the Acropolis. Moreover, as of mid April a brand new bar and restaurant with stunning views of the Acropolis will open on the hotel's seventh floor and guarantee an unforgettable Athenian sojourn.

I was lucky enough to be guided through the entire hotel by Mr. Katis (thank you very much!!), a hotel manager, who also told me about the hotel group's other premises such as the flagship Semiramis hotel designed by Karim Rashid (hello colour explosions!). Well, looks like I have to go back to Athens soon.

Happy Monday, friends!

Photography by Igor Josifovic

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Hotel Of My Dreams: San Giorgio, Mykonos

Don't blame me. It's the high temperatures that shape my blog content these days. With summer outside I am totally drawn to the south, holidays, voyages. And I am considering my summer vacations too, so I am browsing the net for inspiration. This is how it happened: I've found the hotel of my dreams - the San Giorgio on the Greek island of Mykonos. This is exactly what I have in mind when thinking of perfect holidays: a sun-spoilt island in the Aegean and a hotel that is so beautifully designed that it is hard to leave the room!

Even though I went twice to Mykonos, this hotel make a third time inevitable. Many years ago I went for the first time to Mykonos - it was a get-to-know-each-other Erasmus student week, so I partied a lot and slept little. A few years later I visited the island again with one of my friends from Paris and we partied a lot and slept little. Now that I got older and wiser, it is probably time to spend perfect, more quiet holidays on Mykonos. And the San Giorgio hotel is the perfect place to do that.

The relaxed 'rustic charm meets sophisticated interior design' just nails it for me. The abundance of whites and natural hues are juxtaposed by vibrant colour pops, wooden furniture and a refined selection of decoration. This well-thought design  underlines the subtle mix of Mediterranean and Eastern influences. The hammock on the terrace and the stark blue Aegean sea ahead - only one question remains: Why am I not there right now?

Photography via San Giorgio Hotel

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