Photo Credit: Frank Schröder
Illustrator Sophia Halamoda has captured the difficulties, quirks, chaos and oh-so-relatable particularities that make Berlin what it is, from hitting the club after Sunday brunch to placing Pfand bottles beside an orange bin. Following up on her first book, How to Become a Real Berliner, Halamoda’s sequel, Like a Berliner, brings even more depth and humour to her take on the city through her self-drawn illustrations and short blurbs about Berlin.
Photo Credit: Frank Schröder
How did you come up with the concept for Like a Berliner?
When I moved to Berlin in 2011, I wasn’t a Berliner myself. I was 24 and I kind of moved to Berlin by accident because my best friend was here. I was a bit lost. After studying, I was like, “Where am I going to go? Okay, I guess I’ll go to Berlin.” When I landed here, I felt so out of place and really uncool. I moved to Prenzlauer Berg, and I’m from South Germany. Back then, it was kind of a thing that the Schwaben people were all in Prenzlauer Berg, and they were gentrifying the area. I was like, “Oh, my god. Why am I here? What am I doing here?” I felt so awkward. That’s why I didn’t have a smooth landing here. For me, whenever I have some kind of struggle in life, I make fun of it – like a humorous project. And that was kind of how the book was born. At the time, I also went to a lot of advertising parties (because my friends were working in advertisement), and it was always a thing, like, “Oh, are you a Berliner?” What do you have to do to be a Berliner? It was almost like a personality trait to be one. At the time, I thought, “Okay, this is a bit ridiculous,” so I made a book out of it to make fun of it a bit. But also to actually make a guide for myself and for my friends.
Sophia Halamoda
Like a Berliner is following up on your first book, How to Become a Real Berliner. How did your concept and work evolve for this release?
What is a real Berliner, you know? Like I said, being a Berliner is also a little bit of a lifestyle, so you can become a Berliner even if you don’t live here. If you spend a crazy weekend here and you have the most incredible weekend of your life – with revelations and whatever – by going to Sisyphus for 24 hours, you’d be a Berliner afterwards, you know? So this book is kind of taking the ‘real’ out of it, because there is no real or fake. There’s just: you can be a Berliner, and it doesn’t matter if you live here or not, if you’re German or not. It doesn’t matter. So that was kind of the thing – to make it more open for everyone.
Sophia Halamoda
I really love the ‘Lost Spaces’ section of the book because there’s a bit of a history element to it. How did you decide what to include, and how did you do your research for the different sections?
I worked together with iHeartBerlin and they provided all of the tips for locations for the ‘Lost Places’ section, for example. We also developed the 12-chapter concept together, so that was a really big help. And then me personally, I do my research literally by just living here. I get a lot of inspiration from just riding on the U-Bahn, honestly. I like to watch people and listen to their conversations. I sometimes listen to what people talk about in the subway when it comes to places, locations and parties, and I get a lot of information from there.
Whenever I have some kind of struggle in life, I make fun of it – like a humorous project. And that was kind of how the book was born.
For the ‘Lost Places’ section, this is something that also fascinates me about Berlin – this temporary feeling that Berlin provides. There’s always a hidden space and always a space to discover. And you might be too late – the space might be gone – and then there’s also this melancholy to it. I think we all come here to look for something. All of us want to find a space, whether it’s a physical space or space within you, and the ‘Lost Spaces’ kind of symbolised that for me – this kind of endless search. When I was illustrating some of them, was like, “Oh, I’m too late. I didn’t discover it,” and that kind of makes me want to look for more, or to find a new space that might be gone soon. That’s one of the bittersweet things about Berlin. I feel like most spaces here will be gone at some point. It’s really hard to find something that’s actually going to last forever, especially when it comes to cultural spaces and clubs. It’s ongoing, it’s sad and we’re fighting it – and we should – but I think it’s also kind of in the DNA of Berlin, being destroyed and rebuilt or broken down.
Sophia Halamoda
Which section was your favourite to make?
I don’t know if I can specifically nail down one chapter, but there are definitely some sections I really enjoyed doing. They might not be the flashiest for the reader, but they’re my favourite pages. There’s one in the ‘Move Like a Berliner’ chapter where I was drawing the subway, and then in each window there’s like a classic portrait from art history, representing the different stations. So you have Wittenberg Platz and there’s a picture of Klimt, in Rosenthaler Platz you have to ‘Girl with the Pearl Earring’ and then at Neukolln, you have Bosch. That was so fun to do – and also to draw Dali’s clocks on the actual time monitor, because I feel like time in the Berlin subway is just fucked.
That’s one of the bittersweet things about Berlin. I feel like most spaces here will be gone at some point.
And then there were some pages that were quite catchy for me. There’s a whole new section called ‘Love like a Berliner’ about dating drama. There are some quotes, like: “When you’re lying in your bed on Sunday morning and you have to digest all the failed Tinder dates of the month.” And that was also really catchy and good to do, because I think dating in Berlin is a whole topic. When I talk to my friends and ask what I should write about Berlin, they all complain about the dating.
Another part I really enjoyed doing is actually at the end. It’s also not really flashy. I was researching a bit about the Urstromtal and the geography of Berlin, and I find it so fascinating that we’re in this primeval stream, and that Berlin is basically built on an old swamp. I find it so fascinating.
Photo Credit: Frank Schröder
After the launch of Like a Berliner, what’s next?
I do want to work on another book about Berlin, hopefully. The next book will be very much about history, but history that is repeating itself, focusing on the fact that Berlin has always thought and protected personal and collective freedom. That’s the Berlin spirit: passing on the torch through the different decades. I want the book to illustrate the Berlin spirit that can’t be tamed or demolished, no matter what.
I think Berlin will never let me go.
Maybe it can give them some kind of peace of mind for people to see that some things have always been this way, and that’s actually also a good thing. That’s kind of what I want to do: show the instability of Berlin and how that can be a good thing – a great thing, even. And to show the trauma of Berlin and how the trauma the city experienced is also the reason why we’re so creative.
I also want to publish a few products by the end of the summer, like calendars and maybe some stickers – just a few products that come along with the book. After that, I’m taking a small Berlin break and focusing on topics of mental health, but who knows? Maybe that will link up with Berlin themes. I think Berlin will never let me go.
The launch party for Like a Berliner will be taking place soon! Follow Sophia @sophiahalamoda for details, and find out more about her book here.
