Life Is A Journey

If you were to pack a defining moment of joy from your life, what would it be? And if travel is about growth, what has it taught you? This multi-channel brand awareness campaign explores the fluidity of life and how seeing the world shapes our paths. As the creative ideator and editor, I led talent research, talent management and the production, crafted the storyline, conducted the interviews, and assisted with video editing. The campaign was published across web, paid social, newsletters, social media, and was also showcased in Horizn Studios’ Berlin store. My written profiles were published in the brand's online journal.

Benjamin Patch

How do you see your future self? I posed this existential question to the designer, former professional athlete, and self-proclaimed ceramic dancer Benjamin Patch, who says that an atmosphere of love and acceptance allowed him to flourish into the multi-faceted individual he is today.

The designer and former athlete on carving out his own path

Benjamin Patch recently happened upon an archival comment from the depths of the internet and felt both flabbergasted and affirmed. It seems that, in that moment, he himself had unintentionally determined his path long before he knew it. “Furniture and interior design,” he had typed back to a curious fan asking him about his alternate calling if he were ever to quit his globally acclaimed volleyball career.

It’s a sunny Friday morning, and I meet Benjamin at his airy Berlin-Mitte flat, sitting at a rustic table made by, you guessed it, himself. Like everything around us, from voluminous, organically shaped vases to slender, timeless candlesticks, stone chairs and metallic stools, it epitomises Benjamin’s creative oeuvre. Lest I forget his travel trinkets, like a woven bowl from Lagos, Nigeria, or rocks from Mallorca’s shores. Just days prior, the designer and art director had returned from a trip to California, where he had searched for waters and wilderness away from Berlin. Read on Horizn Studios in English and German

Louna Sbou

How do you envision a diverse future? The founder and artistic director of Oyoun, Berlin’s cultural centre where art intersects with social activism, lets us in on how travel became her university of life, the community she’s built, and her mission to amplify cultural expression.

In the Oyoun co-founder and artistic director’s world, optimism prevails

If Louna Sbou is interested in you, she’ll go straight to deep talk. “When was the last time you cried and why? What are you really passionate about?” asks the CEO and artistic director of Oyoun, the anti-disciplinary art and cultural institution amplifying decolonial, queer*feminist, and migrant perspectives she co-founded in 2020. It’s the depth that comes with her mission to realise a utopia of a free society, one in which love, trust, and compassion reign, and to lead us into a brighter, more connected future: “Our work is heavy. We need to balance that intensity and preserve our energy,” Louna says.

The 36-year-old is busy sowing the seeds for the next generation. Recognising the power of interpersonal connections, especially in a society marked by pervasive social division, she and her team of 30 foster exhibitions, residencies, musical gatherings, and more.

These serve as sanctuaries where their community can rejuvenate and have their physical presence and lived experiences arrive at the forefront. “As soon as I enter Oyoun, I can be myself. It’s the only way we can cope,” she says as we enter the ground-floor café Adot, which serves authentic Ethiopian food and coffee. One wall displays Black in Berlin by photographer Yero Adugna Eticha; Morocco's fabled blue city, Chefchaouen emblazons another. “[Outside of Oyoun], there’s a lot of code switching, using different body languages, or just a feeling of isolation,” she notes. She refers to questions like, ‘Where are you really from?’, which she thinks is not a curiosity, but a form of othering. Read in English and German on Horizn Studios

Our newest iteration of #LifeIsAJourney is a story about arrival. About finding one’s feet and using that position to amplify the visions of others. Meet Louna Sbou, a spirited individual working at the intersection of social justice, empowerment, art, and culture. In this episode, we enter her work space to hear how, through collaboration, she endeavours to make cultural forms of expression visible. Stay tuned.⁠¹

An innate curiosity for cultures is a driving force behind Benjamin Patch’s creative process. The former professional athlete and self-proclaimed ceramic dancer invited us to peer behind the curtain and marvel at his life, his works, and his light-filled Berlin home. Introducing #LifeIsAJourney, a conversation-based series that contemplates intimate narratives and notions of travel.²

¹, ² Social Media Copy, Instagram Captions