For Annette Hermann her life is nothing special but when she is telling me her story over a cup of coffee in the kitchen of her studio in Berlin, Kreuzberg, I am quiet impressed and I´d say her life is pretty much breaking out of column. To me her world sounds different, interesting and somewhat fascinating. Annette´s profession ranges from music manager over book publisher to porcelain designer and back. Her life sounds busy though she seems serene as if she would not plan every step ahead but as if she would allow herself to just try things and also to fail sometimes.

When she was a teenager she started to work with music and everything that fascinated her and she developed a career at the local youth club in Pankow, Berlin, where she comes from. Here she also met her husband, who she has been with for 12 years by now. They grew up together but Annette kept her childlike view of the world. She loves to just try things and if they go wrong she throws over and starts from square one.
The first idea for her project ‘Einhaken’ hit her sitting at a café next to her husband, who was writing songs for his band. She drew a flagstone with a finger coming out of it, building a hook. She was caught by the idea and started to look for people who could teach her how to transform it into reality. Annette began to collect knowledge of how to work with the delicate material and today she is creating various porcelain objects in her little working space in a corner of her husband´s music studio. On her working table are plenty of molds, some worked, some didn´t and she explains me how to use the different tools and raw materials to create her beautiful porcelain pieces. After a long working day Annette comes here to find peace and quiet and to challenge herself working on her very own project. She sold her first items at Holy Shit Shopping and just recently found a shop that is going to sell her articles in Hamburg.

Text & pictures by Caroline Kurze