Lower East

Dinner & art

“Raum Ø“ in Lower East Lab & Camillo’s Kitchen Lab. Raum Ø is a series of dinners and an art project by the Danish, Berlin-based, artist Solvejg Hockings. She has created a very interesting and important project, where she invites teenagers out for dinner at various locations in Berlin. One of the events we had in our lab in March 2024.

Solvejg explains “RAUM Ø is an artistic intervention that invites young people to eat together at one long table centered in a carefully curated space with interactive artworks on existentialism. The project invites the youth to disconnect from screens and engage with others over a shared meal, to promote their social skills and assist them in new ways of community building. The teenagers are involved in the planning and execution of the dinners. Professional chefs, will lead cooking classes, and teach different cuisines from around the world.

RAUM Ø has cooperated with Lobe Block GmbH, Lower East Lab Berlin/Camillo’s Kitchen Lab and Berlin Bilingual School.”

If all goes well, Raum Ø and the Berlin teenagers will be back in the Lab several times throughout the year.

With Raum Ø, the photographer Mark EJ Garner also visited the lab – and created a wonderful series of photos from the evening – here’s a selection of them.

Posters for KVINFO

The photo exhibition “Peace & Togetherness” draws attention to the fact that we also in Denmark live with neighbors, colleagues and friends who are deeply and personally affected by the current conflicts. At the same time, it emphasizes the global need to be able to live together and in peace, regardless of one’s nationality, ethnicity, religion or gender.

The six women with roots in Sudan, Ukraine, Russia, Israel and Palestine whom we meet in the exhibition all have war and conflict close to their lives due to their background in the conflict-affected areas.

Photographer Stine Heilmann and KVINFO are behind the photo exhibition.

Lower East has designed posters, postcards and giant photo prints for the exhibition, which premiered on the International Women’s Day 2024, where it was on display in Vega, Copenhagen throughout KVINFO’s 8 March event.

Talk, workshop and dinner

Visit in our Lower East Lab Berlin from the Danish folk high school Vallekilde Højskole.

Over two days in september 2023 we offered two different groups from the school a talk, a workshop, a little urban safari in the city – and a dinner in the evening in our Camillo’s Kitchen.

Two very lovely, cosy, creative and inspiring days. A lot of good talks, questions and reflections on the work, life, future and dreams took place in the lab.

Here some picture from the days.

 

International Women’s Day 2023

Again this year we did the graphic design for KVINFO’s celebration of March 8th at Vega, Copenhagen. Here’s a quick glimpse into some of the graphic work.

International Women’s Day (March 8) is the global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality.

KVINFO is the Danish centre for gender, gender equality and diversity. KVINFO is the hub for research, knowledge and information related to the current dialogue on gender, equality and equal opportunities; nationally as well as internationally.

 

The cookbooks from Camillo’s Kitchen

Three cookbooks from Camillo’s Kitchen, designed, illustrated and published by Lower East. (And sorry only one of them have an English version so far; “Eat & Knit“). The perfect Christmas present, to that person you want to cook for you. “Camillos fornemmelse for sommer“ (Camillos sense of summer), published May 2022, “Spis & Strik“ (Eat & Knit), published 2020, – and “Mad, der får folk til at tale sammen“ (Food, that makes people talk to each other) published in 2018.

If you are a bit fast, we can still manage to send them of for Christmas presents.

talks on creative placemaking

Back in September ’22 we had this amazing event: Nordic Talks on Creative Placemaking

Why are art & culture so integral to the development of thriving, attractive areas?

An afternoon in Berlin of art and discussion, where Creative Placemaking takes center stage. Two curated talks in which we explored the ups & downs of utilising both design and business in the development of urban areas that nurture creativity.

The talks took place in our Lower East Lab Berlin, a creative co-working space that accommodates community dinners, a design studio, and much more.

Featuring experts and innovators from C.F. Møller Architects, Henning Larsen, Hines Real Estate, Sigurd Larsen Design, OS Arkitekter, Ramboll, Bak, and more,

‘Nordic Talks on Creative Placemaking’ were presented by NordicLA in collaboration with VOLCANO, Lower East Lab and the Danish Embassy in Berlin.

Nordic Talks in the lower east lab, September 2022

Nordic Talks in the lower east lab, September 2022

Nordic Talks in the lower east lab, September 2022

Nordic Talks in the lower east lab, September 2022

And then a glass of wine…

Present mood in the lab

The ‘updated’ lower east lab berlin – ready to welcome (almost) what ever you can come up with

We are so happy with our lab, we are full of good, new energy with this place we have had for eight years now – the home of lower east design, lower east lab and camillo’s kitchen lab.

Recently we have had quite a few guests in the lab, among them the board of a Danish theater (for a day-long meeting and later in the evening for a full menu dinner), a group of students and teachers from a Danish folk high school came by (for an introduction to our universe, a ‘mini urban safari’ and for a dinner), a creative communication company used the space for a one day workshop, with both talks and yoga on the program.

Very soon there will be a new film production taking place in the lab – and shortly thereafter the lab will be transformed into a fashion show room for 4 days.

Between all the hustle and bustle the lab functions as our design studio. Right now we are finishing the work on the new cookbook from Camillo’s Kitchen, we are working on a book about the Danish designer Verner Panton, on a visual identity for a non-profit organization, graphic stuff for an exhibition in Belgium and other very fine projects.

After the summer ’22 we again will open up for Camillo’s Kitchen dinners in the lab.

You can rent the space when you need an awesome space in the finest backyard in town, Kreuzberg, Berlin.

Call +45 40636899 or (even better) send an email to js@lowereastlab.de

• lower east lab berlin – design studio, creative learning space, workshop space, meeting room, co-working space, home of lower east design.
• camillo’s kitchen lab – where new recipes, new menus are developed and tested, cook books are developed, designed, illustrated and written. Casual test dinners are held – food eaten, and wine drunken.

Kvinfo

New visual identity and new website for Kvinfo, Denmark.

In the summer & autumn of 2021 we worked on a wonderful task, to develop a new visual identity and website for Kvinfo. In a rewarding, funny, inspiring and trustful cooperation with the leaders and communication people from Kvinfo, our job felt just natural and easy.

KVINFO is Denmark’s knowledge center for gender and equality. KVINFO works at the crossroads between knowledge, politics and practice. They create an overview research and knowledge on the field and bring this knowledge into play broadly to decision-makers, media, companies, organizations and the public in Denmark and internationally.

They interpreter knowledge into change by developing tools and solutions to specific challenges related to gender. The letters in KVINFO stand for: gender, knowledge, information and research.

End of December 2021 we launched the website – Kvinfo worked hard & succesful with the content, we designed and our web wizard Rico Tijsen did the programming of the site. Illustrations/collages for the website were created by designer Juliana Toro, our very creative and skilled play- & soulmate.

Over the next period the new visual identity will be folded out; the logo, the colors, the fonts, the icons and all that jazz.

Check out the website on this link.

 

Website for ‘Projekt Udenfor’

Back in September we launched this fine website for this fine client of ours; ‘Projekt udenfor’ – an organization, that work to improve the conditions for society’s absolutely excluded. They combine outreach street work with collecting and disseminating knowledge about homelessness.

They work mainly in Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark – and also internationally in a worldwide network.

As part of ‘Project udenfor’s’ work to prevent exclusion from homelessness and ensure better conditions for people who have already been excluded, the organization is engaged in several international activities. Their international work aims partly to exchange experiences, methods and knowledge across national borders and partly to seek political influence at European level.

Our task was to design a new website, that was “good-looking, trustworthy, beautiful, communicating, wise and ‘wow!’“ – that was what we were striving for. We also included graphic illustrations and ‘poetic’ photos from Copenhagen in our work.

Again a very meaningful job, thanks to the organization for a fantastic co-work and co-creation!

Check out the site on this link – so far only in the Danish.

 

Recent work from Mejeriet

We just did this handout for Mejeriet Architects – a 24 pager with recent work from the architects.

A bit more info – under our work at this side.

International Women’s Day

For Kvinfo, Denmark we did the graphic work for the celebration of March 8th 2021. This year’s celebration is an online event (due to the Covid-19 restrictions) live on zoom and facebook.

International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality.

KVINFO is the Danish centre for gender, gender equality and diversity. KVINFO is the hub for research, knowledge and information related to the current dialogue on gender, equality and equal opportunities; nationally as well as internationally.

Join the celebration – and keep up the good work for equal rights!
Live-streaming on Facebook or Zoom via this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87686290307

Here some examples of the graphic work:

Walking in the Void

For Glasmuseet Ebeltoft we designed the book for the exhibition Walking in the Void. The artists behind the exhibition, the American-Swiss couple Philip Baldwin & Monica Guggisberg, rank among the elite of contemporary artists working in glass. Dougald Hine, writer & cofounder of “a school called HOME” contributed to the book with an essay in twelve chapters. Exhibition photos by Christoph Lehmann. Read more about the exhibition and see more pictures here

Posters Camillo’s Kitchen

Four happy and jolly posters from Camillo’s Kitchen designed and illustrated by lower east. All recipes from the Italian-inspired cookbook from Camillo; spaghetti al limone, risotto ai funghi, polpette and spaghetti with tomato, almonds and basil.

The posters are so far mainly in the danish, english editions coming up – the spaghetti with tomato and almonds already ready for spaghetti–lovers all over the world. The posters can be ordered from lower east and Camillo’s Kitchen – a perfect gift for yourself or one you love.

 

Utzon’s house at Mallorca

In February 2019 Lower East went on a little inspiration tour to Mallorca, visiting CCA Andratx the centre of contemporary art in Mallorca, checking out the art scene in general, the graphic scene and of course also the food scene on the sunny island. We also tried hard to get into the Jørn Utzon house, Can Lis, in Portopetro at the island’s south coast. We almost managed, but ended up being allowed to enter the ground and watch and explore the house from the outside.

Still a very inspiring experience, what a house he created Mr. Utzon! Below you can see some of our photos from the scenery.

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Can Lis is the house the Danish architect Jørn Utzon built for his wife Lis and himself near Portopetro. The house was completed in 1971, and is located on the top of a cliff. The house is built in the area’s yellowish-pink sandstone, known locally as marés stone, making it blend into the landscape.

The house consists of four separate blocks, linked together with walls and courtyards. From west to east, the first block houses the kitchen, dining room and study, the second the living room, the third the bedrooms and the fourth contains a guest suite. All face the sea with slightly different orientations following the line of the cliffs. The house makes optimum use of light and views.

The light in Mallorca is sharp and bright. Can Lis has a number of areas where loggias and projecting roofs provide shade. The window frames, mounted on the exterior surface of the walls, stimulate the effect of light inside the house. Most of the furniture is also made of stone, sculpted into shelving, tables, chairs and benches.

 

The Utzons kept Can Lis as their Mallorca residence for almost 20 years, living there for extensive periods as they grew older. They finally decided to build a second house on the island, Can Feliz, at a more remote location, as they were increasingly bothered by the continual pounding of the waves, the glare of the sun, and intrusions by tourists and architecture enthusiasts who wandered through the site. Can Lis was used for many years by their children.

After the Utzon Foundation, that was established in connection with the opening of the Utzon Center in Aalborg, Denmark, took over the house in 2011, it underwent extensive renovation in order to prepare the place for visitors. It is the wish of the Utzon Foundation that the wholly unique characteristics of the house, can be experienced by as many as possible, but in a controlled way. This means that access is only given to a limited number of people at a time.

9 months of the year, the house is reserved for longer working stays for architects, artists or others working with architectural expression. These residencies are allocated after application to the Danish Arts Foundation. After the residencies have been allocated, it is the Utzon Foundation that co-ordinates the practical aspects of a visit. Visits and shorter stays by architecture students and so forth are offered the remaining three month of the year and are administered by the Utzon Foundation.

The text is taken and adapted from wikipedia and other good Utzon-sources.
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Check out the Can Lis at this link.

 

Urban Safari Berlin

In September 2019 we arranged and hosted a “Bauhaus Safari“ in Berlin and Dessau for a group of danish architects from the studio Mejeriet.

We had three wonderful days together, celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the birth of the Bauhaus movement – and exploring the Bauhaus history; visiting the new Bauhaus Museum Dessau, checked out the Bauhaus Building that housed the Bauhaus school from 1926 to 1932, and were on guided tours in the Masters’ Houses. We attended exhibitions in Berlin like; ‘Original Bauhaus’ in Berlinische Gallerie and ‘Bauhaus and modernism in Berlin and Tel Aviv’ at ‘Freiraum in der Box’. We also visited the Mies van der Rohe Haus, had a sunny walk in the Onkel Toms Hütte area, where several Bauhaus houses are build – and had a little ‘detour’ to the Corbusierhaus in Berlin-Charlottenburg.

All ‘supported’ with a lot of walks, talks and discussions – delicious food and splendid wines. The safari ended with a very cosy dinner in Camillo’s Kitchen.

Give us a call or an email if you want us to arrange a tour in Berlin for you and your company or organisation. We do architecture, design, start-up, Bauhaus and food safaris in the lively and inspiring city.

js@lowereastlab.de

 

 

Chinese Whispers

We at Lower East have done the design for the exhibition “Chineses Whispers“ at Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark. We have been working on the idea of building an exhibition landscape with transport boxes – that supports the exhibition’s concept of the journey of stories from one country to another. The artworks are on display at the transport boxes, which emphasize in a raw and simple way that the works and stories have traveled throughout the world to reach Ebeltoft.

On the wall we have painted a huge world map stating with red dots where the artists live and work. We really liked the work, the cooperation with the museum, and are very satisfied with the result. If you want to see the exhibition it runs until March 2020.

CHINESE WHISPERS. Erin Dickson

Inspired by the childhood game of the same name, Chinese Whispers is a project initiated by British artist Erin Dickson, which explores issues on national identity across borders and continents involving 15 international artists working with glass.

For centuries, glassmakers have worked in glass factories or have been in glass production far from their homes, and taken their knowledge and their craft from one region to another or from country to country. Thus, glass art and the glass society are characteristically transnational. With the transformation of a classic Venetian vessel, Erin Dickson illustrates this exchange between glassmakers across the globe. At the same time, she comments on the global challenges of our time by exposing the misinterpretations, which undeniably result from differences in language and culture.

The exhibition is part of the project ‘From Where We Stand’ – a collaboration between seven Danish art museums on national identity.

Artists represented in the exhibition: Silvano Signoretto (Italy), James Devereux (Great Britain), Hyunsung Cho (Chorea), Sibusiso Mhlanga (Swaziland), Einar & Jamex de la Torre (Mexico), Rasmus Nossbring (Sweden), Zuheir Alkazzaz (Syria/The Netherlands), Mia Lerssi (Denmark), Jing Li (China), Nadège Desgenétez (France/Australia), Petr & Ondrej Novotny (Czech Republic), Kelly O’Dell (USA), Christina Hellevik & Leif Møller Nielsen (Denmark), Bevan Taka (Maori/Sweden), James Maskrey (Great Britain).

 

CHINESE WHISPERS FOR GLASS PRACTITIONERS. 15 artists working with glass are involved in Erin ­Dickson’s Chinese Whispers, which started in Italy, where Erin Dickson saw a classic Venetian vessel at the Murano Glass Museum in 2015. Erin Dickson asked the Italian glassblower Silvano ­Signoretto to recreate the vessel in black glass from a photo, and then describe his working process with 100 words. Using Google Translate, his description was then translated from Italian to the native language of the next artist in line. From this auto generated translation, the next artist would then create his or her version of the vessel and so on. The results of this ‘whispering game’ for glass ­practitioners are 15 variations of the original vessel, ­interpreted and recreated by artists across the globe.

 

CHINESE WHISPERS. The expression Chinese Whispers is commonly used in many English speaking countries around the world as the name of a very simple game. A person whispers a sentence into the ear of the person sitting next to him or her, and the next person passes the whisper on to the person next to him or her and so on until the last person says the sentence out loud. By now the initial sentence will be totally changed beyond recognition.

Exhibition design

Opening today, Friday October 11th; the exhibition “Chinese Whispers“ at Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark.

A debut! For the first time we at Lower East have done the design for an entire exhibition. We enjoyed the work so much, loved the cooperation with the museum, and are happy and proud of the result. Come by and check it out! The exhibition runs until March 2020.

About “Chinese Whispers“: With the participation of a number of international glass artists from different countries British artist, Erin Dickson, examines ideas of national identity across borders. The exhibition is part of ‘From Where We Stand – 7 Exhibitions on National Identity’, a collaboration between seven Danish art museums.

Also today three other exhibitions are opening at the museum; MAPPING DENMARK V: BALTIC SEA GLASS. A presentation of Baltic Sea Glass – Pete Hunner and Maibritt Jönsson. FOUR ROOMS. Solo exhibition with Czech artist, Zuzana Kubelková. EXIT 19. Graduation exhibition (glass), KADK; Annelie Grimwade Olofsson, Marita Wongsupa, Laura Wuisman Bækhøj.

Here’s a sneak peak from the exhibition “Chinese Whispers“.

 

Check out the museum’s website.

Baushaus inspiration

We are in the planning of an Urban Safari in Berlin and Dessau – a larger group of architects will be coming to Berlin later this month. We are arranging and hosting the three day tour with Bauhaus as the overall theme. Celebrating – like more or less the rest of the world – the 100 year anniversary of the birth of the Bauhaus movement.

We’ll be going to Dessau, to check out the Bauhaus Building that housed the Bauhaus school there from 1926 to 1932, and be on a guided tour in the Masters’ Houses. The group will also pay visit to the total new Bauhaus Museum Dessau (opening September 8th). When back in Berlin, we will see the exhibition ‘Original Bauhaus’ in Berlinische Gallerie, visit the Mies van der Rohe Haus, check out the Onkel Toms Hütte area, where several Bauhaus houses are build, go to exhibitions like ‘Bauhaus and modernism in Berlin and Tel Aviv’ – and a lot more – and of course talk, eat, drink, discuss and hopefully be inspired a lot.

A few pictures from our recent research:

Explore the lower east lab

Explore, use, rent, visit, enjoy the Lower East Lab Berlin. Our lab, placed centrally in lovely Kreuzberg, works as a design studio, a workshop space, a meeting room, a pop-up gallery, a pop-up dinner space, a co-working space, a work-away-from-home space – you can have talks & gatherings – you can use it as a showroom, for photo shoots or photo studio. You just have to fix a date with us. The size of the lab is 200 square meters. Study the pictures. And reach out if you want to know more! js@lowereastlab.de or +45 40636899.

New website for Godsbanen

New website designed and produced by Lower East for the cultural production center Godsbanen in the centre of Aarhus, Denmark. The new site is up & running just now. We are really happy with the result. Thanks to Godsbanen for joyful teamwork and for trusting us in this creative process. We hope you will be tempted to find your way to this wonderful place!

At Godsbanen you can experience more than 400 events annually – concerts in our music venue, exhibitions, performances in the two theatres, markets, festivals etc. Or you can just hang out, enjoy a good dinner or a cup of coffee or take a walk on our rooftop with a spectacular view over the city – the architecture is worth a visit in itself.

Godsbanen is home to amongst others Theatre Katapult, the music venue Radar, the black box Åbne Scene, Aarhus Centre for Visual Arts, Aarhus Centre for Literature and more than 60 different cultural projects. A large number of external event makers also use Godsbanen for exhibitions, workshops, conferences, meetings etc.

Check it out godsbanen.dk