The 2 Minute Interview
In 1999, Constanze Hallensleben founded the first exclusive order catalogue and online shop in Germany: pad paradscha. For several years, she has been developing individual solutions on the topics of interior and marketing for creme marketing, the focus being on optimisation of hotel and restaurant concepts. But above all, she is the initiator of the creme guide, existing since 2013 and presenting an exclusive and reliably distinguished selection of regional and national lifestyle topics, beautiful places such as restaurants, cafés, shops or travel destinations, aesthetic objects and interesting people. Props! And what topics do you talk about with a passionate and committed recommender? Exactly: city tips, full drawers and her son’s graduation ceremony. Crème de la crème!
Name: Constanze Hallensleben
Age: 46
Home: Berlin
Profession: Interior designer and passionate recommender
Shoe size: 37.5
Favourite place in Berlin: The meadows and fields of the Dahlem Demesne
Contact: cremeguides.com
Friends are visiting you for their first and only day in Berlin. What do you do?
Breakfast in the Literaturcafé. Car drive via Siegessäule, Tiergarten and government district to the Museumsinsel. Take a walk and visit an exhibition. Ice cream at Anna Durkes. Visit the St. Agnes Church. Dinner at the restaurant Hugos way up on the 14th floor of the hotel InterContinental Berlin. A drink on the rooftop terrace of the Hotel de Rome. Gendarmenmarkt at night.
What does your home look like?
Light and friendly. Nearly every object has its own story. I love surrounding myself with beautiful things that stay with me for a long time. On the surface, I need extreme orderliness. But you better not look inside my cupboards and drawers.
Your culinary discovery of the last months?
My spiraliser for vegetables.
Which characteristic do you appreciate in a person?
Clarity.
What would you change if you had the power to?
I would want to show people how much happier a positive view on things can make you. What changes when we free ourselves from all the negative thoughts that accompany us through the day.
What do you spend too much money on?
High-quality, durable products. Good food.
What would you cook for us if we came to visit you at home?
Currently, probably pasta from fresh Zucchini with a pistachio-lemon-thyme-pesto, roasted bread crumbs and grated pecorino.
Which piece of art would you like to own?
A Paul Klee or Max Liebermann.
What are you afraid of?
Things people do driven by fear and insecurity.
What truly touched you emotionally recently?
My son’s graduation ceremony.
What should no one know about you?
I can’t answer that, of course.
Which question should we have asked?
What I love most about Berlin. The answer: Anything is possible in this city. Here, a person can just be the way he is. No one is disturbed by the other person’s lifestyle.
Last words:
Everything is good if you’re open to it.
Photo: Ruben Fees
