CreativeMornings/Berlin Team Interview – 5 questions with JØRN - Making Music as a Creative Outlet, JOY and SOFT Global Theme

After the conversation in August with Ellen, our videographer, the next member interviewed is Jørn, a senior team member and long-time community contributor in Berlin. If you’ve ever attended CreativeMornings/Berlin, chances are your first ‘hello’ came from Jørn Erdmann, since he’s been for years the friendly face behind the registration desk - welcoming everyone and handing out our name tags. 

🎵 Today, we get to learn more about Jørn, who shared how he became drawn to the CreativeMornings community, what he enjoys most about it, and who he would like to invite to speak in Berlin - from anywhere in the world. Another highlight of our conversation touches on music and architecture, including the standout moment of his big gig playing side drum at the re-opening of the Olympic Stadium Berlin, and his appreciation for Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) and the green spaces in different seasons - that brings a soft side to Berlin.

1. Dear Jørn, you’ve attended CreativeMornings/Berlin talks since 2013 and became part of the organization team more than five years ago — what first drew you to the community, and what has kept you engaged?

Way back when, I was a fan of Greyscalegorilla on YouTube — a channel packed with great Cinema4D tutorials. But of all his videos, one caught my eye: it was a video about his talk at Creative Mornings in Chicago. Near the end, he mentioned that Creative Mornings chapters were all over the world. That got my attention — where else were these talks happening?

I have friends and family members in the U.S., mostly in New Hampshire, Florida, and California, so I thought I'd look for one there. Surprisingly, I found that there was a Creative Mornings chapter here in Berlin. I joined right away and went to the next talk — and I've been an addict ever since.

What I like about Creative Mornings is the fact that you get to observe what people love doing — how they do it and how they present it. You can easily identify that there are various types of people. There are those who enjoy writing: their keynotes have few images, but good-chosen fonts and of course there’s nicely layouted text.
And then of course there's the aural type. Their slides tend to be, how should I put it… minimal. Not many images, no fancy fonts — but they usually speak freely and with confidence.

And then of course there's the visual type — great pictures, maybe video, and well-thought-out typography.
I don’t judge; there’s neither good nor bad. It's just different — it's the way people are, and that’s what makes it so fascinating to me. I love the creative diversity.

2. From anywhere in the world, if you could invite any speaker to a CreativeMornings event, who would you love to hear in Berlin and why?

I can come up with a few people whose talks would be great to hear.One of my friends works for Google in California — he'd definitely be a great candidate. It would be immensely interesting to hear something about such a huge global company. Plus, he's a very intelligent guy and has loads of stories to tell.

And then there's Chip Foose, American car designer. He generally makes custom cars based on classic American models. He starts with a sketch of his design, and then he and his team rebuild the car from the ground up — metalwork, upholstery, paint, everything, the works. His cars have won a lot of awards, and the craftsmanship and creativity are just incredible.

And finally, my sister. She is a fashion designer and presently a fashion design manager for a large international fashion retail chain. Creating fashion on that kind of scale is truly impressive. Producing fashion for so many people takes a special type of creativity.

3. In your profile, you mentioned that making music would be your backup career. If your life were a song, what would its title be?

Song titles, yes that’s a problem. I always struggle to find good song titles for the music my buddy and I make. We’ve come up with so many bad titles it would fill up the World’s Top 100. 
If my life was a song this would be my title: „Joy“

4. On another note, what else can we usually find you doing in your spare time?

Once a week, I meet up with my best friend — we’ve known each other since day one of first grade. We make music on the computer. Technology these days allows you to have unlimited possibilities; you can play any instrument that comes into your head, even if it’s only virtual. It’s amazing. As drummer I was never able to play melodies and chords, but those tools opened endless possibilities for me.
My buddy and I don’t stick to a specific genre. We write songs in all kinds of genres — it's not a big deal project, it's just for fun. There's absolutely no commercial interest behind it.

We used to play together in a lot of bands previously — he was on bass, and I was on drums.

I even played side drum in a bag pipe band here in Berlin. It was great fun. My biggest gig ever was for the re-opening of the Olympic Stadium Berlin, being part of a massed pipes and drums band made up of almost 80 musicians was incredible. What a sound!

Making and listening to music has been a large chunk of my life all along — one of my two large creative outlets. I honestly couldn’t imagine life without it.

5. Lastly, the global theme for October is SOFT. In a city like Berlin — known for its boldness — what does “softness” mean to you in a creative context?

Since I originally studied architecture, the word “softness” immediately makes me think of Jugendstil, or Art Nouveau. Berlin has lots of hidden gems when it comes to Jugendstil architecture. One particularly beautiful ensemble is at Mexikoplatz in Zehlendorf. The Jugendstil square is surrounded by several large residential buildings and features a unique Jugendstil S-Bahn station — truly one of a kind. You can find it on the S1 line.

In graphic design “softness” reminds me of muted or pastel colors — and all things with soft fonts and curvy shapes.
When I think of Berlin, “softness” are all the parks and lakes. All those greens through out the city, make Berlin a very special place. I live in the southwest, where we have the Grunewald Forest with its beautiful lakes. And many other wonderful parks.

"Softness" is an early spring morning, right after sunrise — everything is green and lush, and I love a gentle breeze.

My dog Coco used to love waking me up at 4:30 in the morning to go for a walk. She enjoyed the early spring sun just as much as I did.

The way the grey and muddiness of winter suddenly turns into fresh greens and colorful blossoms never ceases to amaze me. The creation of so much from so little is astonishing. Spring and early summer are the most wonderful seasons in the city — that’s the time when I revive.

That’s “softness” to me.

–
Interview conducted by Aida Mola from CM/Ber