Nikolaiviertel in person: Sabine Matusch and the KugelEi

Over the Easter weekend, Sabine Matusch celebrated her 25th KugelEi anniversary in the Nikolaiviertel with a big courtyard party. Plenty of reason for a conversation about the past, present and future.

Professionally, you have been “at home” in the Nikolai Quarter for 25 years now. What does your typical working day look like nowadays?

I usually start between four and six in the morning at the Beusselstrasse wholesale market to buy flowers. I always do my weekly bouquets at the beginning of the week, which many companies or private individuals book with me. It’s a whole week of flowery joy for the client.

When people see your store, the first spontaneous thought that comes to mind is “a café”…

I originally started out as a flower and crafts store, then the café was added, but now the space is more of an event location. For private parties and corporate events. It all ties together perfectly: a cute location, the decorations, the catering and the entertainment… I have it all.

When it comes to catering, do you work with other service providers?

I do cooperate with some restaurants, but I prepare a lot of things myself, my cakes for example. I was once trained as a restaurant specialist at the Hotel Schweizerhof and also ran my own catering service for eight years. That was back in the eighties and was called “Büfett Bine Berlin”.

Speaking of “started” and “back then”: how did the name KugelEi actually come about?

It was at a trade fair in Frankfurt, where I actually had something completely different to do. In a hall for Christmas decorations, in addition to the “Christmas tree balls”, there was an incredible number of Easter eggs that really had no business being there, which was pretty funny. However, on the way back to Berlin I started thinking “yes, Christmas baubles and Easter eggs, I gotta create something out of that” and I couldn’t get it out of my head. After two weeks, I went to see Peter Priess in Salzburg and told him about the idea of the “bauble egg”, a hybrid of a Christmas and Easter decoration, in a sense. At the time, he had 120 egg painters and he was instantly excited. Then everything happened very quickly and I received my first delivery from him. All of them were small works of art, all hand-painted, you can’t do that with machines.

And then the question was: where do I sell it?

I was already looking for a store for my floristry and then it just turned out to be a combination of both KugelEier and the flowers. At first I also looked around Ku’damm and Wilmersdorfer Strasse. It was supposed to be a location with lots of tourists, but also “cute”, and then there was also the Nikolaiviertel. I was familiar with the area from the late 1980s and I loved it back then and thought that if a space became available, that would be it.

And then that was the case. But not in the current location, right?

Yes, I moved to Poststrasse later. The first store was behind the church, where Tigertörtchen is now. I got the keys to the store on March 31, 1999, and the first “egg delivery” also arrived that same day. There was nothing in the store. Nothing but cartons full of hand-painted eggs and me unpacking them. It was hilarious because a Japanese tour group suddenly stopped in front of my window, then they came in, took photos of the eggs and bought a whole load of them from me. I thought “this can only be a good thing”.

And apparently it’s still good… what keeps you in the neighborhood?

It’s just such a lovely place and over the years, I’ve made a lot of acquaintances, both business and private, that have grown close to my heart. Of course, there have been lots of ups and downs, and it hasn’t been easy for the business owners, for example because of the many construction sites in and around the quarter. But I just appreciate the closeness of the people here, and it’s just like a small village – a huge contrast in this big city and I like that. I also think we should continue to fight for the Nikolai Quarter to be recognized even more as Berlin’s old town – also in terms of how it is perceived by tourists.

Speaking of which: how would you explain to a complete stranger what the Nikolai Quarter is like?

I’d say, if you’ve ever been to Paris, imagine Montmartre, only without the hill but just as awesome. And if we had more artists here, that would be even greater, of course.

There’s hardly anything to add. Except for the question of what your plans are for the near future…?

For the second half of 2024, I will definitely be offering more of my own events again. From French chanson singers to swing, playing concerts at my place and the aim is to do two events a month, some in the café, some in the courtyard. There’s a lot in the works… for the end of August, there’s “Grasland”, for example, they do country poetry songs, and then there will also be an exhibition of paintings by Philipp Sonntag and a musical reading with him. It’s entitled “Poetry and Blues”. And at Christmas time there will be children’s fairy tale readings again. And, of course, floristry seminars. Summer bouquet making, Advent bouquets and floral art.

You can find the next events at KugelEi in the events calendar.

KugelEi • Poststraße 12 • 10178 Berlin • Tel.: (0170) 3 211 211 • E-Mail: info@kugelei.de