{"id":1948987,"date":"2026-05-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1948987"},"modified":"2026-05-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T21:00:00","slug":"wonderland-199","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1948987","title":{"rendered":"Wonderland"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\tWonderland<\/span>
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\n\t\t\tINSIDE BERLIN\u2019S BEATING HEART<\/span>
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There\u2019s the city that never sleeps, the city of angels, and now, with the help of The Dean Berlin, the city that pulses.\u00a0<\/h3>\n
\"Inside<\/figure>\n

It\u2019s somewhere between midnight and 1AM \u2013 the night of The Dean Berlin\u2019s launch night \u2013 and I\u2019m stationed by the lift, waiting for it to arrive. In Berlin, nights don\u2019t so much end as loosen their grip, but my body is quietly negotiating otherwise. As the lift doors ding open, a young man, cap backwards with beer in hand, turns the corner and says, unexpectedly yet prompt: \u201cI\u2019d love to talk, but I really don\u2019t have the energy guys.\u201d Room 320\u2019s secret comedian immediately quips: \u201cOkay cool, shut the fuck up.\u201d And I guess, I guess<\/em>, that\u2019s the charm of Berlin \u2013 or at least the magic of The Dean Berlin.<\/p>\n

As morning arrives, those stories have multiplied. Over brunch at Benedict\u2019s, Charlottenburg\u2019s beloved breakfast spot, The Dean\u2019s co-founder Keith Evans\u2019 night is retold in fragments \u2013 each version louder, embellished with laughter. A fifth-floor afterparty. Champagne bottles, emptied and abandoned. \u201cWe had great fun!\u201d he shrugs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I stop on the memory of the other co-founder, Kai Tan. He sits humbly, tucked away in the corner of another hotel room, which, for that evening, has doubled as a mini art fair\/gallery. He\u2019s magnetic. Visitors flock to him, sitting around him on the floor with an almost-awestruck wonder as he commands the room, simply asking: \u201cWhat\u2019s your story?\u201d and \u201cTell me about you.\u201d And what he does in return is listen. <\/p>\n

Dancing the night away gets you hungry \u2013 and what better city to tend to that stomach rubbing for a kebab? Berlin, of course, demands one at some point between night and morning. Conveniently, Sam\u2019s Gem\u00fcse Kebap sits just across the road. We eat perched on the truck\u2019s benches with a man we\u2019d only just met, who, mid-bite, reveals himself to be part of the hotel\u2019s art curation team \u2013 and co-founder of Pictr. Even here, the conversation circles back to the work \u2013 or fanning over it. And it seems, in Berlin, it always does.<\/p>\n

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\"Inside<\/figure>\n
\"Inside<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

Set in City West, where Wilmersdorf softens into Charlottenburg, The Dean Berlin feels deliberately unpolished in its charm \u2013 a kitsch five-floor, 81-room hideaway that leans into its quirks and personality. It\u2019s part residential, part \u2018what\u2019s creeping around the corner?\u2019, where all roads lead somewhere. And its award-winning interior designer Rachael Gowdridge adds a favourable contrast, bringing together patterned upholstery against plush primary tones, blush pink offset by burnt orange drapery. In the bathroom, Italy waves its flag, as reds and greens stripe the mirror and black and white tiles stamp the floor \u2013 a cold contrast from the plush carpet that otherwise coats the floor. Across the lobby, a hidden nook charmed with literature and photography books offers brief reprieve, while the sweet waft of coffee, pastry and sourdough simmer through the lobby, blurring the line between hotel and neighbourhood fixture. It\u2019s a curated colour-drenched abyss, which, of course, hotels are in the business of doing \u2013 but this one does it well. Instagram ready<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Art is woven into the hotel\u2019s rhythm. Curated by Thom Oosterhof under the title Wanderers<\/em>, the collection reflects Berlin\u2019s ever-changing cultural and artistic pulse. At check-in, walk right into contemporary artist Xia Peng\u2019s technology-inspired paintings, Kanta Kimura and Ricky Lee Gordon\u2019s moving paintings are hung above beds, made especially for The Dean, and you can have an in-room coffee under a Wiebke Maria Wachmann frame. Under your nose, while you\u2019re tucked in, or taking your mirror pics, in your transition to the lift, there\u2019s art all around you. New sights and new stories to feast on, all in the safety of the hotel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Inside<\/figure>\n
\"Inside<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

As you step outside, on its corner read the words, \u2018IF I WEREN\u2019T THIS CORNER I\u2019D BE THE HORIZON\u2019, a mirrored installation by the married duo, Fiete (who studied under Karin Sander) and Julia Stolte. Both day and night, it lights up the pavement. Their work, which we learn on an intimate guided tour through their studio, is influenced largely by time \u2013 both metaphysical and visual \u2013 and has received the Tracey Emin stamp of approval. It makes sense, then, that they would enlist the help of two artists who get, well, time, and therefore, the timelessness of the hotel and the imprint it wishes to have on the city\u2019s culture \u2013 and is already set on achieving.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As they walk us through their studio, adorning their sentences with \u201cI tell you\u201d\u2019s in the way we\u2019d say, \u201cYou know what I mean\u201d, we get an intimate snapshot of Berlin\u2019s creative circuit. Despite how casual the tour was, their approach to art is anything but. And this is when the vibe of the city kicks in \u2013 they\u2019re in the business of taking things that may not be the most gorgeous, chic or fanciest, and turn into something worth getting your attention. Like Kai said of The Dean Berlin, \u201cIt\u2019s not the prettiest building, but it\u2019s the stories behind it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rest of the trip pans out the same. A slew of people in adjacent fields hearing each other\u2019s stories and unpacking them. And by the end of the trip, friends and fellows amassed, we feast. And naturally, there are very few right ways to honour a great holiday \u2013 but one of them is wine, which the city is great for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Inside
iPhone snapshots from inside Bottega Sepel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Inside
iPhone snapshots from inside Bottega Sepel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

One of its hidden gems, definitely an \u2018if you know you know\u2019, and even more so if you\u2019re able to get a recommendation, is Bottega Seppel \u2013 a 20-minute walk away from the hotel. As we sit in the dimly candlelit restaurant, where every table is full except for incoming reservations, and a mix of soul and jazz swirls around, time seems to fly as a bread-packed tasting menu unravels before us. A wispy, salt-fused whipped butter is gone before another knife dips into it. The creamiest hummus appears from above my head, floating in an orange-hued olive oil, with thinly-sliced beetroot roses embellishing it on top like a strawberry-sauce glaze on ice cream. A platter of seasoned shrimp goes mostly untouched due to full stomachs, lined already with succulent slabs of steak and chicken. And then, of course, there\u2019s the wine. Through the sommelier\u2019s suggestion, we lisp through glasses of reds, whites, and oranges, sprinkling a champagne in there for a surcharge of extra celebration. Eventually, between plates and spoons of sticky toffee pudding and an olive-oil slathered chocolate mousse, D\u2019Angelo\u2019s \u201cSend It On\u201d simmers in the background, making a fitting send-off for my final hurrah in Berlin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, with one final walk back to the hotel, faces lit by the glow of Prada, Louis Vuitton and Emporio Armani stores along Kurf\u00fcrstendamm, the streets carry a calm buzz. Car wheels screech in the distance, and lights flash by, in sparse increments. Faint sounds of glasses clinking, people chatting, heels click-clacking, doors shutting.<\/p>\n

The night rarely ends in Berlin, but if it does, there\u2019s always The Dean Berlin to return to.<\/p>\n

Words <\/strong>\u2013 Aswan Magumbe<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t22 May 2026\t\t\t<\/div>\n
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Lifestyle<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\tChlo\u00eb Sevigny and Keith Haring? Louis Vuitton has landed in New York<\/span> <\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wonderland INSIDE BERLIN\u2019S BEATING HEART There\u2019s the city that never sleeps, the city of angels, and now, with the help of The Dean Berlin, the city that pulses.\u00a0 It\u2019s somewhere between midnight and 1AM \u2013 the night of The Dean Berlin\u2019s launch night \u2013 and I\u2019m stationed by the lift, waiting for it to arrive. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,257],"class_list":["post-1948987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-wonderlandmagazine-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1948987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948987\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1948987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1948987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1948987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}