Marc Binder Scores One for Passion
Studio 54, photo: Maeshelle West-Davies
A year ago Marc Binder would have never expected to be doing this interview. He was just doing what he loved; decorating. With his own flat finished, he looked for something else to turn his attention to.
His job is to buy energy from renewable sources to sell on the energy exchange. His territory is Germany and he has a home office. Sometimes the bed is closer than the computer, so he thought it’d be nice to take a studio as an office. Once he had decorated it, it seemed a waste to use it as an office, so he offered it up as his own little guest flat for incoming visitors. Just to see what would happen, he placed it on several accomodation sites. And the rest, as they say, is history. In no time at all, he was booked between 70-80% of the time.
Since the space was a studio and the street number was 54, he decided to call it Studio 54, but you won’t find any disco balls there. Instead you enter to a tastefully designed space where you immediately feel at home.
Marc Binder enjoys a cup of tea at Studio 54, photo: Maeshelle West-Davies
In January he won Landlord of the Year 2011 from Home Away in the category of creative services. Of course he did! He has a great concept. The space is centrally located and because you are in a normal residential building, you feel like you live here rather than like you’re a tourist. The flat has a fully equipped kitchen, dining area, flat screen tv that swivels to your view no matter where you are, a full bed, a couch that folds out into another full bed, use of two bikes, free coffee and tea, wi-fi, plus free pick-up service from the airport or train station. How’s THAT for service!
Marc says that since receiving the award his hits have gone from 150 a month to 1500. Things have been going so well on Reimannstr that he’s opened another place on Paul List St. He really likes making people happy and they definitely feel at home in his space. He says the guests fall into a wide range and come from all over the world. He’s had people in for the Goth Festival to a group of four women from the US and UK who studied here and come back for a reunion every five years. Being on the German holiday rental site Fewo Direkt automatically puts you on the Home Away site and people from all over can easily find it.
One year later, and 10 years younger, he’s franchising the idea under the name of Studio 44 throughout Germany. So now you can open your own in your city and benefit from his success and he still gets to have his passion. Each location will be unique and yet recognizable through the same bedding and color scheme.
Images of Dresden…..
….I’ve been making more of an effort to get to Dresden the last few weeks to check out some of the wonderful museums on offer in Saxony’s capital city. This month it’s been the newly opened, Militärhistorische Museum der Bundeswehr (more about this in the JanFeb Issue of LZ!), and the Galerie Neue Meister in the Albertinum; both of which were fabulous…and need far more time than just one visit! And Dresden didn’t look bad either…..
The Militärhistorische Museum der Bundeswehr. Photo credit: C Nielsen-Marsh
Strolling along the Elbe in November sunshine. Photo credit: C. Nielsen-Marsh
View from the Albertinum. Photo credit: C Nielsen-Marsh
Getting ready for the Christmas Market under the watchful eye of the Frauenkirche. Photo credit: C. Nielsen-Marsh
The Japanese House
Working on the idea that Leipzig is a city with “not much money, but a lot of space and old furniture”, recently graduated Japanese architect, Yu Ohtani, along with the help of many volunteers, has transformed the ground floor of the Chauseehaus into a versatile space which echoes Japanese architecture and design - the Japanese House. Originally, the concept was to have a relatively short life – salvaging old, unwanted furniture from the many ruins around Leipzig and transforming them using Japanese materials and design in order to sell them and donate the proceeds to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami which hit Japan on 11 May. The success of the many events have meant that for now the project has been extended until the end of December this year.
Their next event is ‘Tandem-Speed-Dating on the 22 September at 19:00, but the variety is rich – from documentary film evenings and art exhibitions, to creative days for the kids. Make sure you check out their website for all the details.
The Japanese House. Photo credit: The Japanese House
The Japanese style for lower ceilings and cube-focused architecture is echoed in the transformation of the ground floor space of the Chauseehaus. Photo credit: The Japanese House.
A children's event day at the Japanese House. Photo credit: The Japanese House.