Sarah Illenberger and Natalie Loher for: & Other Stories

For the opening of the new Mitte store, &Other Stories asked Berlin-based artist Sarah Illenberger to create two of her paper pieces to be presented in the windows. She created them together with artist Natalie Loher and they set up the sculptures past Tuesday so I went by the store to snap some pictures.

Sarah's work is understandably popular, thanks to her appealing style that creates surprising and witty objects out of ordinary materials. What's so striking is her ability to create pieces that are transforming the used materials into something that's completely different yet very close to its origin using simple methods. Like the Rubine, a beetroot cut into the shape of a ruby diamond. Another all-time favorite of mine is her Salatkleid, a dress made of all kinds of greens.

I used to share an office with her so I know how elaborate and time-consuming her work is. For &Other Stories Natalie and Sarah created giant paper sculptures made from the &Other Stories paper bags hanging in the windows. When I arrived the truck with the first sculpture just rolled in and Sarah and her assistant carefully carried the paper structure through the streets and mounted it into the window. And then spend the remaining of the day to attach and remove paper cubics until it was in a perfect shape.

The result, needless to say, is very pretty – forming a beautiful window decoration and completing the equally pretty new &Other Stories store, which you can visit from today at Neue Schönhauser Straße 15.

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