WORK

WORK. It's what we do, what we obsess over, celebrate, complain about, get paid for. We may call it Art, but it's still work. Particularly for creative types, where we do our work must have something to do with how it turns out, for better or worse - yet we rarely get to see behind the curtain.

We would like you to share something about your special place where creativity blooms. So where do you work?

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Waiting for the Big Kahuna in Berlin

 Meet Ben the Bavarian. Ben came to Berlin, a city of opportunity, with at least two big ideas. The first idea was this: serve Hawaiian style coffee. The second, maybe more significant idea was this: serve drive-thru customers.
Ben is a cheerful, energetic fellow. He notes that his is the ONLY drive-thru coffee stand in all of Germany. This first-to-market stance excites him, though it hasn't yet  and seems to have awakened the customer base. Ben remains undaunted. Germans love their cars and love their coffee. It's only a matter of time, he believes, and when they come round he will be ready.
Plenty of room - no waiting


 Ben's stand is located in the Mitte, a rapidly developing district in East Berlin. Though there are vacant parcels to either side of his shop, it's very likely that will change soon.







The young, creative class that moved to East Berlin over the past decade and enlivened the city with imaginative pop-up art and homespun commercial ventures is rapidly being displaced by large-scale corporate development.
The huge, rumbling development industry is rolling into all corners of the city, assembling large plots of land for huge mixed use building projects. It's only a matter of time before Ben's little shop is displaced for something much larger, sleeker and more expensive. In the mean time, Ben will cheerfully brew you a cup of Kona coffee with a coconut milk foam. Prost!