I was reading I Heart Berlin this morning since blogger Frank wrote in introducing himself and his blog to me. I'm trying to tap into what's going on in German design right now so that I'm up to speed when I spend the summer there. Here are a few good links that I found totally worthy of sharing, I think you'll like them to. Especially helpful if you'll be in Berlin anytime soon. First up, a modern take on a classic piggy bank. Theo the pig was designed by Morphorm and is available in white, white with blue, white with gold, and more that you can view right here. American store owners should totally look into bringing some of these over here as I'm sure these pigs would fly off the shelf.

Here's a cool shoe store/coffee bar called Latte Wie Hose, a play on a German expression "Jacke Wie Hose" which is like saying Nobody cares or It doesn't matter it's all the same, not in a negative sense but more in a laid back no worries kind of way. Perhaps it's also like the American expression, "6 of one half dozen of another". I guess since they sell coffee, they've exchanged Jacke with Latte. In German there's a lot of expressions like this which as a student of German, I find frustrating but oddly fun at the same time since I love word games. And did you know that it's becoming increasingly popular to add a coffee bar to a clothing or home design store in northern Germany? I absolutely love the idea. Do you remember when we toured La Merceria in Toronto here on decor8? It's part design store part coffee shop. I'd love to see this become a trend here in America -- cafe meets design store. :)

The Lido Creative Fair (info in English here at Berlinista) kicks off on May 4th followed by the DMY International Design Festival Berlin a few weeks later which is an experimental platform for fresh new talent. At the Arena Berlin young designers will showcase their work from May 21-25, 2008.

Frank at I Heart Berlin interviewed the American shop owner of Barcomi?s Kaffeer?sterei, Cynthia Barcomi. She owns a popular deli in Berlin Mitte that I have to visit because not only do I love that neighborhood but her cakes look amazing. Read his interview here.

In June, a monthly creative fair called TrendMafia will begin in Berlin showcasing art, jewelry, fashion, photography and much more over in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg area at the RAW in hall 40 located at Revaler Str. 99. The dates scheduled for 'o8 are: June 7, July 5, August 2, September 6, and October 4th. Details in German here. I'm planning to hit the August 2nd event.

03 Berlin is a craft store that has a rotating gallery, meeting space available to rent, and there's even a little garden in the rear of the store where you can hold events. I'm so glad that Frank blogged about this place, I have to check it out as there are lots of things in the photos I've never seen before.

Frank also talked about a shop in Berlin called Redspective that I'd not heard about before, so I'll be adding that to my Berlin shop links in the right column. Great blog, Frank. If you are interested in viewing more Berlin-related stuff, click here.

(images from I Heart Berlin)