Category: Travel

A photo posted by Nina Mehta (@ninamehta) on May 27, 2016 at 11:22am PDT

First a WW2 Bunker 2, then a pre-Berghain club, now an art gallery

The hungry tech scene in Germany’s hipster capital is at odds with a data-mining culture.  In a predominately cash-based, privacy conscious, offline society: is there room for technology to thrive? It’s understandable for Germany to be sensitive to controlling surveillance systems.

“German concern for privacy rights, a powerful force in a country where folk memories of the Gestapo and Stasi are still strong, against the onward march of modern technology. ” No pixels, please, we’re German, The Economist

In my day-to-day activities I find my peers avoiding tech services that to me seem like the basics: paypal, online shopping, sharing your given name on Facebook. But many of the big Berlin startups seem like copies of existing American companies:

• MyTaxi like Uber
• Zalando like Amazon
• Foodora like Postmates
• Dawanda like Etsy
• EyeEm like 500px

I can’t make much sense of making local copies of companies going global. I’m a bit confused how these digital services are will thrive and see great adoption with what seems like the current generations aversion to technology. Programmer turned fashion designed and cofounder of ElektroCouture, Lisa Lang, inspired me to think beyond digital services. She showed me one of her projects that included reprogramming old sewing machines with software, to produce remarkable new materials.

Of course then I realized, the answer isn’t software, it’s machines! I would love to see more innovators building software and digital systems into where Germans already excel: mechanical hardware. All the machines and old tools are not obsolete, they’re available for what Berlin has done better than anyone: renovation.

The 90s brought Berliners the belief of possibility. The wall came down and I hear again and again, “everything was possible then”. Before this whole spirit gets lost, instead of copying something American, Berlin should be Berlin. Then it was repurposing empty warehouses and vacant parking garages. Today it’s making something new with vacant machines. They can make something new, relevant, meaningful, and most importantly their own.

• wide leg trousers
• high-waisted denim
• choker necklaces
• sweatshirts tied around your waist
• denim overalls
• berry colored lipstick
• platform sneakers
• fanny packs
• doc martins
• flannel
• 1-piece unitard anything
• bald women
• bangs
• septum piercing
• toe rings
• half pony tail
• leather jacket
• ripped 20-denier tights
• keith haring
• wide brim hats
• side boob muscle tanks
• torn jeans
• anklets
• xxxxxxl  bomber jackets
• women baseball hats
• beanies
• mini backpacks
• halter crop top
• using the term “lipstick lesbian”
• bodycon everything

still waiting on

• hair crimping
• scrunchies
• acid washed jeans
• clogs
• cargo pants
• drawstring maxi skirts (update: found!)
• babydoll dresses

This is hard to talk about, but I expected Berlin to be more progressive and less racist.

Before I came here, I was told things have come a long way since World War II. And they probably have, but I expected more. I find daily subtle insensitivity  towards East Berliners, West Berliners, Eastern Europeans, Spanish, Mexicans, Blacks and Chinese** people. This kind of thing is hard to pick up if you’re on a short holiday or mostly interacting with expats.

In discussions with friends, when I hear culturally insensitive language I try to pause the conversation to discuss. In many of these experiences I find people laugh it off or suggest it’s not a serious problem. This is most concerning issue for me. And it’s true that Americans are hyper-sensitive about these (and many) kinds of things, so there’s room to meet in the middle.

We too from the United States too have a dark history of genocide, slavery, and ongoing racism against newcomers. However, as a nation of immigrants we are getting better at accepting different perspectives and sensitivity around language, especially people in cities. The difference is that in North American cities, when someone acknowledges there’s insensitive language in the room the offender usually acknowledges, apologizes and works not to make the mistake again. Whereas here, I find the issue is often ignored, diminished, or dismissed completely.

Ghosting from a party is only hurtful to ghosts

In Berlin it’s fairly rude when I don’t greet and bid farewell to every individual in the group. Apologies for everyone I didn’t greet with a hug upon arrival and for all the times I left without discussion. I’m really working on it, but it takes time to change behavior.

What I’ve learned so far is that around the world, sometimes people leave parties without saying goodbye and it’s understood to be rude. But when you quietly slip away from a party, what is that called?

• United States: Ghosting (formerly Irish Exit)
• Germany: Polish Exit
• Ireland: English Exit
• France: English Exit
• Spain: Swedish Exit (something about the submarines in WWII)
• I forget which country in South America: Chinese Exit

I’ve had what feels like hundreds of conversations about this topic. Except for ghosting, some person from one group is implying something derogatory and untrue about another group. But nearly every time I suggest this is hurtful language for Irish, Polish, English, Swedish, or Chinese people I usually don’t see the “am I bring racist?” light turn on. This is really difficult for me as a non-white minority in a place with a recent history of genocide against people who are different.

Traveling in Europe

The ghosting story is to only illustrate the subtleties of the greater issue. It’s not true about all people in Germany and not even most of my friends. But it’s true about enough people I’ve talked to that I need to say something. My friends and colleagues still recommend I be careful about which neighborhoods I visit in Berlin and to consider traveling to Eastern Europe with someone white.  I’m sure many of you will tell me I would be fine on my own, and I’m sure I would. But we’re still living in a world where it’s something I have to consider, and thankfully friends here are helping me understand.

I lived this experience for living nearly a decade of my life. I lived thirty minutes Martinsville, Indiana: a major hub for Ku Klux Klan white supremacy terrorist group. You just learn where to stop, when to keep driving, and how to tell if someone is not comfortable with who you are. It’s not ok, but it’s the precautions you take in small-town America.

I didn’t expect to have these kinds of feelings and conversations in a rich, diverse, contemporary, supposedly open-minded city like Berlin. I thought a continent with so many countries, borders, thriving cities, and rich education would help further open my mind,  not the opposite.

I’m disappointed in my Berlin experiences so far. I have a diversity of friends and colleagues with different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, so let’s consider this a halfway point, not a synthesis of my understanding. I want to keep this conversation going and hope my opinion about racism in Berlin changes over time.

*I struggle to write the term American Indian as the people living there first were neither American, nor Indian, and I identify with being both. But several source say this is the right term to use. 

** I think Chinese might be a catch all term for anyone from East or South East Asia.

It’s hard to argue against a day of rest. We need to recharge and slow down.

Stores, business, and shops are closed on Sundays, originally for religious reasons. This has truly been the hardest lifestyle change. I so desperately want to use Saturday sleep in, do yoga, have a long breakfast and meet some friends after working all week. Unless I do my shopping tasks Monday-Friday I’m stuck. In fact, I prefer to do it on Sunday so I can focus on the week ahead. As a result I either eat more takeout than preferred or tax all my energy on Saturdays dealing with crowds also needing to shop.

What’s interesting is I’m sure the Sunday rest day has also fueled the party culture in Berlin. Clubs stay open from Friday until Tuesday and Sunday is the day for locals. I truly believe the strong intent to stop productivity on Sundays in this music city keeps the party going longer than it would otherwise.

I’m surprised how much this one rule has caused me trouble. Less cooking, less manicures, an inconsistent exercise schedule, less friends over for weekend brunches and weeknight meals, and overall higher stress. I love Berlin but the Blue Law is very hard for this American consumerist.

Living in Berlin reminds me of how much anti-russian brainwashing I watched as a child. I grew up knowing the Russians were the bad guy and always inferior. I’m starting to have relationships where I can understand what life and propaganda was like on the other side. Rewatching old American really makes you question the media’s control on the “free” world.

The Red Slime episode

In the MTV Nickelodeon hit series You Can’t Do that on Television, using the word “Free” was a trigger phrase for red slime after the studio was taken over by Russian Communists in the 1986 episode “Enemies & Paranoia”. Watch from 11:50-13:03 if you don’t believe me! Keep watching for the amazing oreo and slip n slide commercials.

Natasha and Boris

In this minisode of Rocky and Bullwinkle, an 80s children’s cartoon, evil spies Boris and Natasha have to swim home after a message control. Natasha suggests buying a a boat ticket and Boris questions her national pride and insists they should steal the boat tickets. How about that for propaganda!

For a city with a serious dedication to extended youth, the cohabitation with adults and actual children in Berlin is remarkable. My perspective here is often compared to life in the States and citylife in general. Both together are hard places for children to live.

Simple things like sidewalks, restaurant, cafes, and parks play nicely with parents and singles alike. In San Francisco and Chicago there were family places and regular places. The deeper into the city, the more I felt people making a stink eye to someone who brought their youngin along.

During one of my first weekends here I went for a long brunch with some local friends. Their son 9-year old son was climbing on the sofa and playing with the adults in the group. Sometimes wanted attention but never crying, screaming, or yanking on his father’s coat for entertainment.

I don’t see kids demanding for attention in public places or crying in the supermarket. Maybe parents raise their children differently in Berlin. That must make it easier to bring them along to whatever the parents have going on. And the parents I’m meeting somehow seem to have time for themselves. Do Europeans have an extra few hours in the day? Why are Americans always so tight on time?

However last night I saw some kids also around 9 or 10 years old with their parents in a smoke-free Belgian beer bar. I think they drew the doodles on the wall behind the cash register (above). That was surprising and unexpected. Americans are somewhat conservative about alcohol so having kids in the bar was a strange for me. But maybe there’s some other context I don’t have yet. I’m curious about German parenting.

Ok also, kids have these awesome Fred Flinstone bikes to help them learn the hardest part of riding a bike first: balance. It’s not that related to this post but it’s so fantastic and you need to know about it.

A photo posted by Nina Mehta (@ninamehta) on Mar 25, 2016 at 6:17am PDT

Bauhaus design school teacher Johannes Itten said:

“The way we breath is the way we think.”

He believed breathing quietly, slowly, and deeply is the foundation of creative energy. In fact in his classroom, courses began with simple breathing and physical exercises to help students find a rhythm, the foundation of their creative energy.

In plain english, designers need to be deeply connected to themselves before they can create anything meaningful for someone else. It makes sense that they started by looking inward.

The early 20th century Bauhaus art school and design movement is so hard to describe because it doesn’t have a specific look or style, but only unified philosophies. And though it was born of the industrial revolution in Germany, Bauhaus designers celebrated designing well made products to last forever. The impact on the future was much more relevant than profit margins. So of course, designers had to be intimately in touch with themselves and nature to create from this perspective.

But nearly 100 years later and slow, deep, quiet, inward looking practice is even more relevant for designers because:

Software products are deeply connected to the consumer’s psychological experience

The creators of technology can have a scary amount of impact on the intimacy of someone’s life. How people eat, sleep, live, date, work, and so on is directly related to technology. Ten years ago laying in bed with a computer would sound wildly robotic. And now many find it harder to quit their cellphones than cigarettes. To deeply connect with the physiological and psychological experience of our customers, we first must be connected to ourselves. We start by looking inward and taking the impact of our work seriously.

Designers have never been asked to or been able to mass produce at such a fast rate

Before software, product designers would sketch and prototype with wood, steel, plastic, fabrics and other physical materials. Eventually their work would be produced in a factory and then ship to stores for display and sales.  This is why we had a waterfall process for so long.The time from ideation to manifestation took months if not years.

Intangible, non-physical, software design made it possible for agile development and lean design processes. We learn as we go and make changes inspired by what we learn. We can move faster than ever before, but that’s getting mistaken for better. When we move too fast, we end up too closely connected to the “scurrying rat-race of everyday life” and further from a deep, quiet, inward looking process.

Slow Lean Design

Many celebrate lean and agile because it’s so much faster than waterfall. But our challenge ahead is a lean and agile process where designers can think deeply about their work without shipping the first idea that’s good enough. In the beginning of a lean process, we want to validate ideas and ship as fast as possible to learn quickly. But product teams need to create time for the right expression of a validated idea. For example: now we’ve validated people want to taxis on demand, let’s make time to create the best way to order a taxi on demand. That second half is the expression of the idea.

Some parts of that expression will come from user research and quantitative data. But there is no objective design. No mater how user centered, the work a designer creates will in some part be an expression of who they are.

Author Jeff Sussna wrote about mindfulness and design. In summary, he challenges designers to think beyond improving a product but to create products or services free of distractions so customers can be completely focused on their task at hand. He has an excellent example about laundry services. e.g. I don’t necessarily need laundry to go away or to be faster. I may need a way to make laundry a preferred activity.

Slow Berlin 

Let’s bringing this back to my Berlin experience. My work weeks move really fast. Too fast. I used this long weekend to stay in the city and find some stillness. I visited the Bauhaus Archiv and thought a lot about their teaching process. They start from perfecting their craft rather than production. Students in the beginning simply play and explore materials. I thought about this while walking in the rain through Tiergarten and the next day went on an artist date to the Modulor art store. I touched all the felt, plastic, metals, papers and markers. I’d tell you more about it but I need to go play with my new paint brushes and chalk.

Have a deep breath!

If you also believe design and software have a relationship to nature, you might like my minimalist technology posters.

Going to shows, concerts, and gigs in Berlin are so wonderful because of the polite and considerate audiences. I find these kinds of things relaxing because I am charged by the energy of people. I find it restful to be in an immersive sensory experience: music, dance, good food, delicious drinks.

In Berlin, more than other places it’s easy to go out for music and not need to talk. People focus on the music and enjoy the togetherness without conversation overtaking the primary experience. In fact, it even affects the sound: in American clubs and concert halls there’s a layer of chatter on top of the music. The sound guys have to tune it louder and even for other reasons it becomes more intense.

Even this week I went to a night event where Max Richter’s 8-hour composition was intended to be heard while sleeping. A few hundred people gathered in a powerplant and slept on individual cots while listening to the music. I loved sharing the experience with so many people without having to be directly and explicitly engaged. When we talk about being extroverted and being charged by people, it doesn’t necessarily mean talking.