Guido Hager’s Apartment in Berlin, Germany.

Guido Hager is a landscape architect from Berlin. This is his apartment. I don’t mean to be stereotyping people here, but have you noticed that there isn’t a single plant in this interior? Without looking up who lived here, I would’ve never guessed this place belonged to a landscape architect. Do you know what I mean? I hope so. “I only like trees when they’re outside. I don’t feel any need to have them indoors,” says Hager. Fair enough I suppose.

Anyway, since we are on this “guess who lives here” thing, I would have assumed this apartment belonged to a corporate heavy-weight. Someone who (errr.. clearly!) loves art, but probably isn’t an art dealer because the collection looks too homogenous and same-y. I’d definitely guess it belonged to a man. A single man. There’s nothing about this place that says “couple” to me. In fact, there’s very little here that says “home”. Ouch! Such harsh words on a Friday… What can I say, I’m only telling it like it is. And that shit can be pretty hard to take.

This is such a striking interior. Amazing spaces, heigh ceilings, ornate heritage features, dramatic black parquet floor, pedigree furniture collection, the art… It’s beautiful. Sophisticated. Sharp. So sharp in fact, that I could cut my eyeballs just looking at it!

So… What’s missing then? I don’t know. A warmth. A personality. It’s just a little bit too perfect. Feels like a showroom. It lacks a heart and that lived-in mess. I do really love it still. I would happily move in and mess it up and introduce a few “wrong” bits to soften it, make it feel real and more human. Am I nuts to think this way? Probably.

Oh and one more thing. It says this apartment was designed by Helenio Barbetta. Mr Barbetta, however, appears to be a photographer. A bit confusing, no? Yes I think so.

[Images vis arch|dez|art.]