Berlin-Charlottenburg – It can already be described as one of the most important store openings of the year: 032c’s first own boutique. For this, the label planted a blood-red style cell in the old Kantstraße, which should make the West Berlin pavement glow at this point. And not only because of the stirring color choice of the interior, which can be seen from afar, but also because the international fan base will turn up here in droves. “It’s working really well now. When we’re open, there’s always someone in there,” says Maria Koch, who has already announced that the store will soon be open longer than just three days a week. She looks like a modern-day Snow White: long black hair, porcelain skin, and a petite figure clad in black home-made streetwear.
Maria and her husband Joerg are behind the more than 20-year-old Berlin company 032c, which started out as a print magazine and is now a cultural universe. The international success of the merchandise collections inspired the fashion designer Maria to create her own ready-to-wear line a few years ago. And now she’s walking through her first stationary shop, which she thankfully opened in Berlin and not in Paris or Milan. She explains why this is so: “Berlin is our home, this is where we live and work. We understand the people and the city. And we’re close enough if something doesn’t work in the store.” But so far there have been no problems. That’s why shops in Munich and Frankfurt are to follow, and a parallel store is being planned in Seoul, which will open in October. The Asian market is currently one of the most important customers for many fashion brands.
“Joerg discovered the shop, and then everything happened very quickly,” Maria continues and explains the location, directly opposite the Stilwerk: “I love this place between the Paris Bar and the Black Café, actually that’s exactly our clientele. That fits together perfectly for us.”
And now, half a year after discovering the location, numerous customers are already coming and going here. But first everyone has to pass through a red chamber, which is already radiating heatedly from the inside through the glass front and underscores the large logo on the door. One half of the zero from “032c” is the door handle. You can recognize a design professional by these details. The Pantone color, after which the brand was once named, glows in the carpet, in the glossy car foil on the walls and ceiling. “Most of the shops look very similar, we’re either all in Berghain or in Avocado-Toast-Land,” says Maria. “In the mid-2000s there were a lot of stores that looked very sexy. For example the first Donna Karan stores in Europe or those of Gucci from the Tom Ford era. Something like that just doesn’t exist anymore. So we wanted to go in that direction, which feels sexy, modern and also abstract.” It actually succeeded, the red room is a walk-in sex tape. In a broader sense, of course, because the film only runs in your head and first of all there is the art.
Christian Werner
Are 032c: Joerg and Maria Koch.
A central installation by Sterling Ruby provides the neon green contrast. Jackets, trousers, shoes hang from a rod that goes up to the ceiling – if you didn’t know better, you might think someone has just undressed. In the future, changing, friendly artists will exhibit here. As in this and optimal case accompanied by a capsule collection. The mini gallery opens into the sales rooms at the back via a wallpapered door. Here, the hot color stays alone on the carpet, and all-over white cools the mood. From abstract sensuality to the 80s ice cream parlor with Italo-Pop flair. Also exciting in a different way, especially since there is now something to shop here.
Above all, the higher-quality parts of the collection are to be presented in the store, explains Maria: “Of course, I wouldn’t buy a leather jacket from a young brand online for a few thousand euros, and I wouldn’t want to see and touch it up close first.” Nevertheless there are also accessories, t-shirts and of course the magazine. Universe 032c continues to pulsate and expand. And we love it.
About
The journalist Joerg Koch founded the magazine 032c in Berlin-Mitte in 2000 with former partners, where he is still the publisher and editor-in-chief. The fashion designer Maria Koch founded the 032c Apparel collection in 2016, the ready-to-wear line has been around since 2019. Her fifth collection will be sold in autumn. Exhibitions and other cultural events also take place under the umbrella brand 032c. Joerg Koch originally comes from Wuppertal, Maria Koch from Göttingen. The Kochs have been married since 2012 and live in Berlin with two children.
032c WORKSHOP, Kantstrasse 149, 10623 Berlin, opening hours Thurs–Sat, 11 a.m.–7 p.m., 032c.com