Nike supports IWISIHSUN! The sportswear brand used the occasion of this year’s Solemart – Germany’s biggest sneaker event where private buyers and sneaker fans are invited to buy selected pairs from numerous brands – to do good once again.

True to IWISHUSUN’s motto “It’s good for you and good for others”, Nike donated the entire profits of the sales to the charity label. The entire sum has been handed over to our partner ORBIS International: with this money the non-profit organisation will be able to finance 237 cataract operations in the Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute in Bangladesh which will be supported directly.

39 million people worldwide suffer from blindness. Thanks to support from Nike and all the buyers, there will be 237 less now!

Many thanks to Nike for their generous support!

A few days ago we presented our first creative partner project and our first short film, the result of a cooperation between Berlin-based composer and music producer Robot Koch and the photographer Sabrina Theissen. For “In a Creative Dialogue – Robot Koch x Sabrina Theissen for IWISHUSUN” our ambassadors got together to take a look at the topic of sight, which IWISHUSUN has dedicated its work to.

Here you can see Sabrina Theissen at work:

The result: a photographic tryptich which is shown below. The sky and the sun are the determining motifs, which, in a similarly minimalist way as the song by Robot Koch, are captured only indirectly by reflection, allowing the greatest possible space for the unexpected aspects of ones own interpretations in their complete reduction – a playing field for one’s own way of seeing and perspectives.

The process and the thoughts of the two IWISHUSUN ambassadors are documented in intense imagery in Editude Pictures’ short film, “In a Creative Dialogue – Robot Koch x Sabrina Theissen for IWISHUSUN”:

Did you know that our friend, film producer and co-founder of Editude Pictures, Frederic Leitzke, is also a DJ? As one half of the duo, Jazoburbs, or as efalive, he has been bringing beats to crowds since 2003. Now Freunde von Freunden, an international interview magazine that portraits people of diverse creative and cultural backgrounds in their homes or within their daily working environments but presents its own mixtapes on the corresponding blog, too, asked Frederic to select his favorite songs. The result is a mixtape which is definitely worth a listen, featuring Mount Kimbie, Schwarz Dont Crack, Super Flu, &ME among others.

Listen to Frederic’s Freunde von Freunden Mixtape #65 here:

Frederic Leitzke’s Mixtape #65 tracklist:

01. Schwarz Dont Crack – Charade (Adana Twins On A Lonely Night Remix) /Kitsune, 2013/
02. Hanne & Lore – My Oh My /Monaberry, 2013/
03. Ten Walls – Requiem /Life And Death, 2013/
04. Mario Aureo & Manuel Moreno – Arosis (Sebo Remix) /Ritter Butzke Studio, 2013/
05. Chasing Kurt – Lose Myself /Suol, 2013/
06. Kölsch ft. Troels Abrahamsen – All That Matters (andhim Remix) /Kompakt, 2013/
07. Mount Kimbie – Made To Stray (DJ Koze Remix) /Warp, 2013/
08. Super Flu ft. Monkey Safari – Me Roar /Monaberry, 2013/
09. Riva Starr ft. Rssll – Absence (Adam Port Remix) /Snatch! Records, 2013/
10. &ME – Shallow /Keinemusik, 2013/
11. Matt Karmil – Reverse Peephole /IRR, 2013/

Check out Frederic’s interview with IWISHUSUN here.

Moreover, Frederik Frede who co-founded the website Freunde von Freunden showed his colours for IWISHUSUN, too. Read his interview here.

We are part of STYLE.DE’s top photos of the year. Find all the pictures here.

Thanks so much, girls – we look forward to 2014 and more exciting projects coming up!

Winter has come to Berlin which means it’s getting cold but our down jacket is a great companion. Our friend Peggy is perfectly prepared for the cold season with our ultralight down jacket and looks amazing!

Check out our down jackets that will keep you warm and at the same finance a cataract operation in Bangladesh with every jacket sold. Shop them here.

concert promoter & agent and CEO of MCT Agentur – Berlin

Scumeck Sabottka knows them all: as a concert promoter and agent who founded the online ticket sale tickets.de and is co-founder of MCT Agentur in Berlin, he has overseen the German tours of the likes of Arcade Fire, Atoms For Peace, Florence & The Machine, Pearl Jam, Kraftwerk, Lenny Kravitz, Marilyn Manson, Tom Waits, Moby, Radiohead, Rammstein, Robbie Williams and many more. Even though he has been involved in music professionally since the early 1980s (and a music lover for much longer) and back then worked with great musicians from all over the world – Einstürzende Neubauten and Ramones to name two of our favourites -, Sabottka has also proved himself a talented photographer as well as being truly big-hearted. While his eyes catch beautiful views of landscapes, human faces, cities and, of course, concerts to translate them into photographs, Scumeck Sabottka is very engaged in social activities too. In addition to showing social responsibility by supporting the organisations Amnesty International and Make Poverty History on his website, he also founded his own website: Remember Chernobyl, a platform that reminds us of the disaster of Chernobyl as well as the fight against its aftermath.

We are very happy to welcome this fascinating Berliner onto our list of friends and supporters. Immerse yourselves in his world and learn more about Scumeck Sabottka in our interview. A very warm welcome!

You are a concert promoter & agent and therefore hearing must be a very important sense to your work. What other sense couldn’t be missed in your life? Why?
All of them really – to see an artist or a band, to smell a venue and the fans, to hear the music — all of those senses are used when visiting a concert and these senses make the concert an experience.

Your work mainly focuses on the acoustical side of life. But how does your personal life sound like?
Music and sounds follow me throughout my entire live – I collect cars and motorbikes because of their look but also because of their sounds ….

Your personal evergreen?
Musicwise – Paul Desmond forever !

What is your sound for IWISHUSUN?
The sound of wind and waves, of trees and barking dogs…..

You are a creative person and have organised numerous tours of well-known bands and musicians. What is your vision for your personal work?
To archive the best in my field by offering fairness and understanding to the people I am dealing with; to learn from the vision of the artists I represent and to bounce back those visions in my head to make them a reality.

You oversee concerts but at the same time you show social responsibility not only by featuring several organisations such as Amnesty International and Make Poverty History but also by founding Remember Tschernobyl. Is this your tactic for making the world a better place?

I feel , that even by the smallest effort, we can make the world a better place and I try and push the envelope to everyone around me to share the love and experience I receive when being rewarded.

When was the last time you gave back and what did you do?
I wish not to brag about my social doings but like to say, that it is very rewarding to offer a helping hand; whether this is in our neighbourhood or in far away places, I enjoy learning of people who are in need.

Who is your personal hero?
The unnamed liquidators of Chernobyl.

Blind people and those who can see surely experience the world in different ways. How would you describe the world to someone who suffers from an irreversible loss of the ability to see in one sentence?
As the most beautiful music/sound they ever heard !

What is the most beautiful thing you ever saw?
The architecture in Brasilia by Oscar Niemeyer & Lúcio Costa – truly breathtaking.

What would you like to see more often?
The ocean.

Sunrise or sunset – what do you prefer?
Sunset for sure – especially on the beach in Rio de Janeiro.

Photo: Anton Corbijn.

Our friend Marcus from Civilist Store says “Hi” from wintery Berlin! It’s getting cold outside, so it’s just the right moment to grab one of our ultralight down jackets and head out into the winter, toasty warm. True to the motto “It’s good for you and good for others”, showing your colours in this way is rewarded with the financing of a cataract operation in Bangladesh.

So do what Marcus does and invest in a warm down jacket at the same time as supporting a good cause. Our down jackets are available in our online store.

Also, Alex Flach, co-owner of menswear store Civilist, supports our cause – read his interview with IWISHUSUN here.

Sabrina Theissen

photographer – Berlin

Look for the name behind the photos in lala Berlin’s latest lookbooks. Check out who is responsible for various photographic series at many of our favourite print magazines, among them German VOGUE, Sleek, Achtung, Interview, L’Officiel Hommes, Indie and I Love You Magazine. The name they all have in common? Sabrina Theissen. The highly talented fashion photographer, who is based in Berlin, where she studied photo design, has built up quite a reputation over the past years.  Thanks to her sensual yet conceptual way of creating an image, her unique eye driven by natural beauty and light, Sabrina’s photos can be easily identified – whether in the above mentioned magazines, in the context of lala Berlin’s collections (read Leyla Piedayesh’s interview with IWISHUSUN here) or working for other clients like Odeeh, Achtland, Hugo Boss, Closed and others.

We think Sabrina Theissen is a major talent and we love working with her. Before we show you the results, we are very happy to introduce you to Sabrina’s work and thought processes by sharing her interview:

You are a photographer and therefore sight must be a very important sense to you. What other sense couldn’t be missed in your life? Why? 
Hearing. By listening to music it’s easily possible to dream yourself to any place you’d love to be.

What is your vision for your personal work? 
To be honest to myself and to stay authentic in my way of showing what I’m adoring.

You have specialised in fashion photography but is there any other area that you still want to explore? 
The more I get into the topic the more I’m exploring it. I’m also very interested in trying out new ways of seeing, showing beauty in another context and to realise projects on my own again, without a large team in the background.

Your personal opinion: what makes a good (fashion) photograph? 
It should appeal to you in some way: whether because it makes you smile, leads you into a parallel world, touches you aesthetically or irritates you.

Looking through the camera is almost synonymous with the act of photographing. How does your normal sight differ from your personal perspective through a camera? 
Not that much, I guess. It doesn’t make a difference if I’m holding a camera in my hands or not. This machine is just the way to visualise what I’m seeing.

What is the most beautiful thing you ever saw? 
My newborn niece.

Sunrise or sunset – what do you prefer? 
Hard to decide. Both events are so incredibly beautiful and full of metaphors like hope, recommencement, transition… I do love both.

What would you like to see more often? 
People smiling on the street.

What is your tactic for making the world a better place? 
By starting to change things in my own life which I’d also love to become real in a bigger context.

When was the last time you gave back and what did you do? 
I just did some craft work for my mother’s project. Once a year she organises a great market together with other women, raising money for autistic children and a women’s shelter.

But this is not the only chance Sabrina Theissen jumps at to show her vivid interest in the world and her fellow human beings: the generous photographer also supports IWISHUSUN not only by giving us an interview but by being involved in a new exciting project which we will showcase very soon. That’s why Sabrina’s picture for IWISHUSUN is still in the making and we can’t wait to show you the result. Stay tuned! 

In the meantime we present a selection of her photographic work below:

“From Vancouver to LA” series:

Commercial work:

Achtland Spring/Summer 2014

Sleek, “Brumous”

Sleek, “Insight”

When our friend as well as curator and founder of Circle Culture Gallery, Johann Haehling von Lanzenauer recently opened his new gallery space it turned out to be reunion of friends and supporters of IWISHUSUN: after twelve years Circle Culture has moved to Berlin-Tiergarten opening its third gallery space at a former warehouse on Potsdamer Straße and presents “POTSE 68″, a group show celebrating their new space and 23 artistic positions from Italy, Iceland, Mexico, USA, Germany, France, Austria and the UK, among them Jaybo Monk, Marco “Pho” Grassi and Kevin Earl-Taylor. You can check out their exhibited works below and read their interview here.

1 & 2: Marco Pho Grassi - read his interview with IWISHUSUN here.

3 & 4: Jaybo Monk – read his interview with IWISHUSUN here.

5: Aaron Rose - read his interview with IWISHUSUN here.

6: Kevin Earl-Taylor – read his interview with IWISHUSUN here.

Photography: Maria Ebbinghaus. Intsagram photography: Teresa Koester for IWISHUSUN.

Sabrina Dehoff

founder of the eponymous jewelry brand, womenswear and jewelry designer – Berlin

Jewelry is so much more than mere decoration to Sabrina Dehoff and her eponymous label which she launched with her first collection „Little Helpers“ in 2006. Now based in Berlin, Sabrina gained experience in London where she studied at the famous Royal College of Arts and, working as a design assistant for Albert Elbaz and Christina Ortiz, in Paris. When moving to the German capital in 2000 she first started her own fashion consultancy company, “Vonrot”, but then, in 2006, expanded the world of jewelrey by her own label which offers her personal interpretation of playful but at the same time deeply contemporary gems. Her filigree works of art mix different materials and redefine feminine jewelry design, with classical elements combined with striking colours and beautiful details.

Her Berlin store is not only of our favourite stops when it comes to little shiny presents for our dearests or ourselves, Sabrina Dehoff also supports our cause and created a delicately designed strictly limited necklace for IWISHUSUN. In this place we would like to express our heartfelt thanks to Sabrina Dehoff who has contributed 100% of her profits to the charity, enabling even more eye operations. Moreover, we are very happy to welcome her as a friend and supporter!

What is more important to you, the sense of taste or sight? Why?

Sight, because of all the beauty, colours, glimpses, shades, reflections and because I want to see my son growing up.

You are a creative person who studied Womenswear and worked in fashion design but launched your own jewelry label in 2006. What is your vision for your personal work?

I love what I am doing and I love to experiment and learn about new things, learn new skills and develop constantly. I see my work always as a work in progress.

Your jewellery designs are always playful–ever and anon colourful, eccentric and glamorous, sometimes minimalistic but featuring small golden or silver pendants, classic white Swarovski crystals and we also remember your cord bracelets and necklaces. How would you describe your own visual aesthetic?
I like contrasts and I like to find new ways of techniques and aesthetics that have a new aspect or different angle to it. But I still want my work to be approachable and real and
not an overambitious design exercise. I do not like too much good taste and perfection as for me that lacks charm, fun and a bit of risk taking.

Through your work you travel a lot. What is the most beautiful thing you ever saw?
Well, I actually do not travel a lot, but luckily beauty is not something you only see while you travel. You can see beauty in lots of things. I think if you see something really beautiful it is always a unique and wonderful experience. It is about the moment and the feeling that it evokes. The sensation of: all is good, life is beautiful.

What would you like to see more often?
Nature.

Sunrise or sunset–what do you prefer?
I think both are very nice, but sunrise I find more touching. It is the start, the beginning awakening that has as real magic!

In generous support of IWISHUSUN you designed an exclusive golden necklace which is composed of a whiskey coloured Swarovski crystal and a delicate sun pendant. Does this design match your visual idea of IWISHUSUN?

Yes, I think with the combination of the little golden sun together with the whiskey coloured stone, it has a friendly sparkle and should reflect the good moods and intentions.

As a seeing person it is hard, if not impossible, to imagine the world from the perspective of a blind person, and the same applies in reverse. How would you describe our world and surroundings to a blind person?
I would try to explain what I see and why I see it that way. The world is full of different facets, colours, forms, light and darkness. Where you turn, whatever you focus on–you can see something different. The further away things are the less details you can see.
So in the end it is lots about personal perception. Like reading a book it is our imagination that makes the world for us.

What is your tactic for making the world a better place?

It is a bit of an embarrassing question which I am asking myself a lot lately. I try to be nice and kind, help when I can and support good things like IWISHUSUN, but I feel I should do more!

Who is your personal hero?
I have lots of different heroes, but in general I like lateral thinkers and people with a real passion!