Berlin

Household curiosities

If you're looking for quirky hardware and delightful oddities, we recommend an afternoon expedition to English Traders in Neukölln!

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Photo by Joanna Wizmur

If you’re missing the taste of Marmite, English Traders is not the place to go. It is, however, if you’re hoping to find ostrich feather dusters (from €9.90), plant-based plastic lunch boxes (from €6) and quirky ceramic espresso sets (€35) all under the same roof. Now four years old, John Masters’ “curiosity shop for treasure seekers” came about as a professional “plan B” after the Worcestershire-native left his physically taxing role as a film set-builder and settled with his German partner in Neukölln. The name, along with the Elizabethan ship in its logo, is a risky play on the old English sailing tradition of discovery and trade; but far from his native country’s problematic past of looting and exploitation, Masters aims to sell innovative, sustainably made household goods which are both schön und nützlich – “beautiful and useful”. Brits can find a little piece of home here, through English-garden seed packages (€15.80) or vibrant Bold & Noble tea-towels, the bestseller bearing the face of David Bowie (€14). Certainly recommended for a fun afternoon expedition!

Weisestraße 58, Neukölln, Tue-Sat 12-19