Attention insider tip! Between the Brecht-Haus and Rewe there is a small store on Chausseestraße that brings a little magic into your everyday life.
In the Chausseestraße you can live and work very well. Lately, the food is getting better and better. And if you know where, also with shopping.YNT
A woman sits laughing in a pile of spaghetti, the little blue elephant has silver eyes, and this bright green fern in the test tube will live forever. No, we haven’t ended up in Donald Trump’s head or dreaming a crazy dream. We are in the middle of Mitte, fully awake and rested – in a high, whitewashed room on Chausseestrasse. Inside: Lots of colorful objects.
And here Yanti Damerau welcomes us. Born in West Berlin, she is the regent of this wondrous empire, which, for the sake of classification, can be described as a boutique for interiors and home accessories. Named after its owner, YNT Berlin initially collects common items such as plates, vases, pens or toys – but each individual product has a very special magic.
YNT Berlin has home accessories and gifts from unusual brands in all price ranges.YNT
The decorative surprise bags in particular catch the eye, which are on the shelves in different sizes. “The Bazartherapy label grew out of a Parisian gift shop,” says Damerau. “At some point they had the idea for these surprise bags”. They were inspired by the school cones from Germany. “It’s more of a German tradition. That’s how they came up with the idea of the piñata and created this great product,” the shopkeeper continues. In Berlin, the bags are only available from YNT, at prices between 9 and 33 euros.
Already open for you: the French surprise bags with a scarf, soap, pen, iron-on patch and other knick-knacks. On the left: a special edition by the Parisian designer Nathalie Lété for 33 euros. YNT is the only shop in Berlin that sells these bags.YNT
Also special are the large glass vases with inscriptions. Damerau says: “Czech Republic has a long tradition in glass art. There is still a very lively, young design scene there today.” Qubus is one of those brands that combine high-quality production with contemporary design. Unfortunately, the mouth-blown specimens, which have “Berlin” painted with real gold on them and which graced shop windows for a while, are currently not available for purchase. “It was a collaboration between Qubus and YNT,” says Damerau. But it could certainly be done again if the customers wanted it, she adds with a laugh.
But bestsellers are the trays from the Parisian brand Gangzaï Design. So the customers seem to like women in spaghetti mountains because that’s one of the happy themes. But the plates from Bittossi from Tuscany are also very popular: stripes, flowers, animals – dishwasher-safe on porcelain. With this look, the food becomes a minor matter! And the things are also affordable, because Yanti Damerau pays strict attention to price balance in her empire, which was founded in 2020.
If you still want to know what the blue elephant and the fern branch mentioned at the beginning are all about, just visit the YNT Berlin online shop, because the solution is there.
Yanti Damerau in joker mode: In her YNT Berlin boutique, she conjures something suitable out of a hat for everyone. Hanna
ABOUT
Yanti Damerau was born in West Berlin. She has always liked going to flea markets, where she was looking for vases and other things – always true to the motto: “It’s very easy to liven up your home with little things.” After a project management career in the digital industry, she eventually had what she needed Budget together to start their own business. In view of the high rents in the central shopping district in Mitte, she decided on a shop in the residential and commercial area on Chausseestrasse. After opening in April 2020, this is perhaps one of the reasons why Damerau survived the Corona crisis and has been delighting the residents of moderate Mitte with magical objects for their apartments ever since.
YNT Berlin, Chausseestr. 124, 10115 Berlin, Tue-Fri 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Sat 12-6 p.m., ynt.berlin, [email protected], Tel. +49 30 28 703 875