Jana Kubischik runs her design shop Amazing Crocodile in the centre of Berlin with just as much panache as she does her family of five. Everything she sells is hand-picked and extensively tested at home, in the colourful apartment where she lives with Michael and their three daughters.
The living room is separated from the parents’ sleeping area by a loadbearing construction, disguised by carnival colours. The parquet flooring in the living room is Hungarian fishbone.
The small dining area is the visual divider between the living area and the kitchen. The hanging little vase Spatial Vase is by Studio Lotte Douwes. The impressive black lamp is the Vertigo by Constance Guisset for Petit Friture.
The apartment on the first floor in the Prenzlauer Berg area isn’t particularly exceptional, but the location is perfect: next door is the Kulturbrauerei, a former beer brewery that is now a large cultural centre. There’s a cinema, a theatre, a museum and a few restaurants. Every Sunday there is the Streetfood auf Achse market. ‘We live where everything happens,’ says Jana Kubischik. ‘We’ve always dreamed of having a loft and this house with its 85-m2 living room comes pretty close.’
The monumental lightblue chaise longue with an ochre-coloured steel frame by Belgian couple Muller Van Severen is also sold at Jana’s shop, Amazing Crocodile. Next to it, the Componibili storage unit by Anna Castelli Ferrieri (Kartell). Above it a personal work by Jana, depicting their beloved weekend cottage. The technique is inspired by David Hockney’s Joiner Photographs. The indoor industrial windows did not originally come with the apartment but were added by the Ku - bischiks. They open up the
Jana met Michael in their place of birth, Bochum in the Ruhr region. After they finished their education they were drawn to the big city, so they moved to Berlin together. ‘When we moved into this house, there were three large rooms next to the large living area, one of which we divided into two smaller children’s rooms. The kids have an additional playroom and we, the adults, have a playroom too. Michael and I share a creative room for his music and my work.’
The Kubischik family: Jana, Michael and their three daughters Luzie, Lina and Mia (aged 11, 14 and almost 17). The Marshall amp is Michael’s – he played in a band before they moved to Berlin. Now he sometimes plays when no-one’s home.
The kitchen with the multicoloured chairs by Muller Van Severen (Valerie Object). The green cutting board is also a design by the Belgian duo.
‘I’m an interior decorator. Besides the shop I only have time for one big project. And of course I decorated our house, too. Since we own it, I could let it rip and put in a fairly strong colour scheme. Well-known movements like Memphis design and Camille Walala in England and the street art of Maser in Dublin serve as an inspiration. The cheerful striped walls and columns in the living room are the result. It doesn’t matter how you look at it, it’s different every time.’
‘This interior keeps growing, just the way it should. My advice: don’t buy everything at once. The special double chair by Muller Van Severen is relatively new in our apartment and has a prominent place. I fell in love with their work five years ago and have been selling it at my design shop ever since. I’m a big fan. We also have their chairs at our kitchen table. They’re so good with colour.'
The likewise colourful bedroom belongs to daughter Lina, who apparently inherited her parents’ cheerful gene.
The bedroom is hidden from sight by a medium-height panel behind the black leather sofa. The striped wall panels connect the different spaces.
‘Living in one big space works out really well for us. The different functions are separated by the placement of the sofas and tables and low panels, while the use of colour connects them again. We put in the old industrial windows when we moved in. The steel frames separate the entrance from the living room but also give it a nice ambiance and provide light and a view in an otherwise dark hallway. The yellow sofa in the living area is by George Nelson, an original piece that I found at a vintage shop in Berlin. The price was perfect so I bought it without a second thought. An impulse buy that I have not regretted to this day.’
Even the bathroom is colourful, with a custom-made washbasin base in bright yellow. Above the washbasin a little lamp by Muuto. The tap is the Tara. Logic by Dornbracht. The bathroom is fairly large and they didn’t know what else to do with the space, so they decided to install a small sauna. ‘It’s great to go to a public sauna, but afterwards you still have to go home through the cold. Having one in the house has been one of our best investments. In the winter we use it as much as three to four times a week.’
‘Living in the centre of Berlin is great. I can quickly get to my shop in Berlin Mitte, the most central district, the kids go to school nearby and Michael works as a manager for a pharmaceutical company in the area. There’s no balcony or outside space, but we had deep window seats installed, so we can sit comfortably in the evening sun. Those windows look out over a spacious crossing and get a lot of sunlight. In the summer, when it gets very warm and muggy here, we spend weekends at our cottage in Schorfheide, about an hour away from Berlin. We bought a former GDR holiday resort there, together with six families. Each family has its own little cottage, and we only share the garden. Totally idyllic!’
THIS STORY WAS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED IN WOTH ISSUE NO. 8
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