Curated List

#1: FAHRER

It all started in 2004 with a bicycle strap: Since then, 'FAHRER' has been producing sustainable bicycle accessories for everyone - homemade, all recycled and beautiful. Movement, sport and ecological progress come together here. FAHRER now has six employees and is a force to be reckoned with in the bicycle industry.

#2: Public Art Lab

Public Art Lab (PAL) was founded in 2003 by Susa Pop and considers itself an interdisciplinary platform from the fields of urban planning, media art and IT in Berlin. Public Art Lab has since grown into a worldwide network and realizes projects and festivals all over the world.

#3: Sourcebook

Sourcebook is the central industry network for fashion and textile industry in Berlin. It was founded by fashion designer Marte Hentschel in 2015. Sourcebook networks, informs, professionalizes, advises and, above all, sets new standards for collaboration in the fashion and textile industry.

#4: Mona Jas

Mona Jas could also be called an artistic jack-of-all-trades: she is an artist, she is an art educator. She is a lecturer, she leads projects - and gives significant impulses.

#5: HB55 Kunstfabrik

The studio house HB55 Kunstfabrik has become a showcase location for successful art production in the middle of Lichtenberg. With the concept of the central curated exhibition space "L'espace de l'espèce"in Herzbergstraße, Kerstin Godschalk has created a successful element of Berlin's art and culture venues that this city simply needs.

#6: Niche Berlin

Offering guided tours through Berlin to art locations that no one knows about yet - that's what Niche Berlin does, a three-woman enterprise led by art historians Stefanie Gerke, Nele Heinevetter and architect Katharina Beckmann. Art lovers and architecture enthusiasts are guided through the Berlin scene, discovering places far from the mainstream.

#7: Nikola Richter / mikrotext

Mikrotext is a publisher for digital and paper publications, founded in 2013 in Berlin. Focusing on new literary texts that comment on contemporary questions and allowing insights into tomorrow. The texts are inspired by discussions on social media platforms and reflect today’s global debates. All texts are published in German, but selected titles are made available in English.

#8: Lofelt / Basslet

Lofelt builds Basslet, a wearable subwoofer for your body. Using a whole new technology for sound, it delivers the beats and basslines of your music directly to you – so you literally feel the music. The result is a powerful sound experience that headphones alone cannot provide.

#9: Artist Training:  Refugee Class for Professionals vom UdK Berlin Career College

How can new arrivals in Berlin be enabled to start a career, regardless of their residence status? That's the issue of 'Artist Training: Refugee Class for Professionals', a project of the Berlin Career College of the University of the Arts.

#10: bi'bak

bi'bak is a non-profit association which runs a project space in the Soldiner Kiez in Berlin-Wedding. The goal: cross-border cooperation with cultural actors, project spaces and initiatives.

#11: Greta & Starks

Imagine not hearing or seeing anything, but still being able to experience the latest movie highlights live. With Greta & Starks, that's exactly what's possible - via two central apps. Seneit Debese came up with the idea.

#12: Die Lettrétage

Three people had an idea, and it goes like this: Moritz Malsch, Katharina Deloglu and Tom Bresemann founded Lettrétage, a literature space in Berlin Kreuzberg, 10 years ago. It's hard to imagine Berlin's literary scene without the Lettrétage; 60 to 80 literary events taking place there every year- from international festivals and new ways of presenting literature like SOUNDOUT! to small reading series and conferences.

#13: Antje Øklesund / „Zur Transformation des Alternativen"

An initiative and a book - and with it a stocktaking and a signpost at the same time for dealing with the change and disappearance of free spaces for clubs and artists. This is what the book "Zur Transformation des Alternativen" by Antje Øklesund is about. A must-have.

#14: Ina Budde / Design for Circularity

Consulting services, coworking space, event space, networking venue - that's what Design for Circularity, based at the CRCLR in Neukölln offers. It's the first point of contact for the textile circular economy in Berlin. The founder is fashion designer Ina Budde.

#15: Labour Games

What can buisnesses learn from a game? How can art be used conceptually and playfully in a way that ultimately an entire society benefits from it? Robin Resch has been working on such questions for years. In a team of experts, he has designed 40 games in four different countries that deal with the future world of work.

#16: Ela Kagel

Ela Kagel is a networker, art manager and creator of "Supermarkt Berlin", a hub for cultural actors in the city. For years, she has been bringing communities together through her work at the intersection of cultural production, technology, art and bottom-up formats.

#17: Matthias Krebs

Matthias Krebs, who studied opera, has been intensifying the dialog between digitization and music education for years. He works as a research assistant and director of the Appmusik Research Center at the UdK Berlin, organizes projects and networks participants. His topics include the future of app and mobile music.

#18: ehrliche Arbeit

Imagine working in an office with twelve people and there are neither hierarchies nor wage differences. At "ehrliche arbeit - freies Kulturbüro" this is not a future fantasy , it's a lived reality. Founded in 2006, ehrliche arbeit was one of the first production offices for the performing arts in Berlin.

#19: morethanshelters

Architectural design concepts for emergency humanitarian aid - that's what "morethanshelters", a social company based in Hamburg and Berlin founded in 2012 by social designer Daniel Kerber, is all about.

#20: A Syrious Look

How can you create a platform for refugee art and culture professionals and introduce the topic of art and culture in exile to the public? For example, by developing a print magazine about this topic together with the people involved. This is what Mario Münster has done with his magazine project "A Syrious Look". Abslutely worth reading.

#21: AUF AUGENHOEHE

In Germany there are about 100,000 people of small people. It is difficult for them to find suitable clothing. But that's the issue the fashion label AUF AUGENHOEHE is focusing on: As the first worldwide fashion label for small people, it produces chic clothing and sets milestones. It was founded at the HTW Berlin.

#22: Neue Auftraggeber

"Die Gesellschaft der neuen Auftraggeber" commissions artists to develop works of art that provide answers to pressing questions in their city or village. Supported by mediators, commissions are given in rural regions and projects are initiated that are needed by the world.

#23: Thomas Gnahm

Thomas Gnahm works at the intersection of design production, smart clothing systems and sustainability strategies. In 2014 he launched the "Wear It Festival", a new platform for the wearable tech scene. Since then, he has been connecting designers, artists, investors, founders and research companies and creative industries in the center of Berlin.