Kerstin Diehl’s apartment is reminiscent of the hair-raising, comic-like Memphis design. The PR woman still describes herself as a minimalist. A visit.
Kerstin Diehl painted the psychedelic picture above the bed herself; to the right is a plastic armchair by Magis and a side table by Pamono.Daniel Rodriguez
The woman has prepared herself: “I quickly painted the picture at the weekend so that it isn’t quite so empty here,” says Kerstin Diehl, pointing to the large-format painting in the otherwise barren hallway; a kind of pop art expressionism, lines, curves, planes, in blue, orange and pink.
As if to prove it, Diehl pulls out her smartphone and sweeps through the gallery of cell phone photos on which the impressive work of art is created layer by layer. It fits perfectly into an apartment that thrives on the uncompromising play of form and color.
“But,” says the amateur artist, looking up from her smartphone screen to examine it, “I would describe myself as a minimalist.” Whoever hears that and looks around her brightly colored old apartment, Diehl could – pardon – almost declared insane. After all, nothing wants to be simple and reserved here – from the orange Artemide lamp on the dining table to the striped and ringed vases everywhere.
Kerstin Diehl bought her favorite chair from a nail salon in Wuppertal.Daniel Rodriguez
But it’s true: Basically, there isn’t that much around in the 70 square meters of her apartment on the northern edge of Prenzlauer Berg. The furniture has been carefully selected and distributed throughout the rooms, nothing that you really could do without. Instead, when it comes to Diehl’s apartment, one can certainly speak of a cleverly curated total work of art, of room concepts that are close to the comic-like style of the Memphis group.
The orange couch from Sofacompany is juxtaposed with a blue ‘Bold’ stool by Mustache and a hand-shaped armchair Diehl found on Etsy.Daniel Rodriguez
The association of designers and architects, textile artists and ceramists founded in Milan in 1980 consciously resisted the will and self-importance of large industrial clients; countered the pleasing mass product with the unique, eccentric idea. The designs of the most famous Memphis representatives Ettore Sottsass and Michele de Lucchi look deliciously childish, like oversized toys or furniture from a Willi Wonka-like fantasy land, like armchairs made of liquorice and candies alienated from lamps. A hair-raising design approach that is currently very popular again – also with Kerstin Diehl.
She painted the large-format picture in the hallway, a kind of Pop Art Expressionism, herself.Daniel Rodriguez
In the living room, for example, an orange couch by Sofacompany is juxtaposed with a red hand-shaped armchair Diehl found on Etsy and Mustache’s “Bold” stool in blue. In the bedroom, on the bed, directly in front of the stark black and white striped wall, are plump pillows by Tarta Gelatina with wave and hourglass shapes on them; the red plastic seat shell from Magis is joined by a side table with a glass top and bright yellow legs, which Diehl bought through Pamono. And when the PR woman isn’t trawling through the relevant vintage online shops, she is also artistically active herself.
Colorful protozoa become psychedelic patterns, paramecia on LSD
It’s not just the large pop painting in the hallway that bears witness to this. Diehl also painted a picture in the bedroom himself: Organic forms in stark colors waft across it, colorful protozoa that combine to form a psychedelic pattern, like paramecia on LSD. “I also painted the picture spontaneously, almost out of necessity,” says the lady of the house. “The black and white wall was suddenly too severe and cool for me, so I wanted to contrast it with a bit of color and softer shapes.”
Diehl bought the drinking glasses second hand, the lamp on the dining table comes from Artemide.Daniel Rodriguez
In general, the apartment in Prenzlauer Berg that Diehl moved into about two years ago is the first that she renovated from the ground up according to her own taste. “Apart from the large mid-century sideboard that I once saved from the bulky waste, a few chairs and a lot of old vases from my mother and grandma, I didn’t really bring anything with me,” she says.
Reading in Kerstin Diehl’s apartment also reflects the landlady’s great passion for design and interiors.Daniel Rodriguez
In fact, the 1970s vases in red, yellow and turquoise are the only thing that reminds us of Diehl’s childhood, which didn’t have that much to do with the funny and illustrious art and fashion circles in which the PR woman moved today. Because it’s hard to believe: a real country girl lives in the extremely urban, hyper-modern apartment.
Bitch Stella has made herself comfortable on the cushions from Tarta Gelatina.Daniel Rodriguez
“I come from a 1,200-inhabitant village in Hesse, Marburg is the next largest city, but even then it was still 25 kilometers away,” she says dryly. Kerstin Diehl describes herself as “Hungry Heart”. As someone who saw something different early on, to be something different – who wanted more from life. So she went to the USA, first for a year, then to Gießen to study German and history. Then for a traineeship in Hamburg, for a while in Düsseldorf, then in Switzerland, later back to Hamburg for eight years.
For example, Diehl was responsible for the international press for the flashy designer Philipp Plein for two years, after which he also looked after many customers from the beauty sector, such as Douglas and Schwartzkopff. Today she does press work for Nespresso and Purina, among others – and finally lives in Berlin.
“For the first time in my life, I feel like I’ve really arrived,” says Diehl. And whoever experiences this light-blooded woman, whoever talks to her, can hardly imagine her anywhere else than in this apartment, in this city. It’s no wonder that Kerstin Diehl, before she moved, heard this one legendary sentence that drove many hungry hearts here: “You’re crazy my child, you have to go to Berlin!”