Life of a storyteller — visiting Fabienne Meyer

These two stunning interiors are the area of life and work of Fabienne Meyer, a Berlin based artist also known as Bings, whose distinctive paintings gained fame through Instagram a while back. We were happy to have a talk with Fabienne and ask her about her latest home refurb, running a PR agency in vibrant German capital and the mysterious role of chairs in her art.

Photos: Marie Staggat

Great to speak with you again, Fabienne! Since our last conversation a bit more color has appeared in your home. What has changed?

A lot and then again not that much, I guess. I always loved a colorful home but when you decide to paint your apartment, it’s a commitment and I had to do some convincing first, haha. We have a purple living room now (inspired a bit by FRIENDS) and a very blue kitchen that makes you feel like you enter an underwater world. We don’t have a fancy kitchen and with the cupboards and wall matching in the same color it looks like we just installed a brand new one — and it was really fun painting it.

We’re flattered by the fact that the old dining table is replaced by noo.ma's Dany. What stands behind this choice?

The old one was self-built and unfortunately we could never host people because it was way too unstable. So, we started looking for something that would fit the space and be a bit more special than a usual square one. We got the Kuvu couch tables for the office a while back and when I saw that the Dany table is basically the large version of it, I completely fell in love with it. Honestly, it’s one of the most beautiful round dining tables I have seen and I love how it elevates our dining space. The legs are so unusually chunky, and the wood grain is very subtle.

Your creativity seems to thrive lately; new works appear on your profile almost every day. Your art is filled with recurring objects and symbols, but — excuse the professional bias — we especially love these paintings which portray various chairs. Does the figure of a chair tell any specific story?

I love them too, haha! Chairs were in a way the first reoccurring objects in my paintings, and I always come back to them. So, you could say that they are quite representative for my current style. I really like taking something as solid as a chair, place it in various scenarios and play with its structure. The way I paint them, my chairs could never exist in reality.

You’re a founder of a successful PR agency Supergloo — a creative hub that helps cool brands grow through telling one-of-a-kind stories. What is it like to operate in Berlin, a city with such diverse and flourishing culture? Who are your clients and how do you maintain good contact with them?

I like to say that I am a storyteller — whether I paint, write, or even found my agency. It’s stories that move people, that make them want to know more about something and (if you do it right) to share those stories with other people. That’s what we do at Supergloo. In a world where product launches and new brands pop up every day, it’s important to find the story within that resonates and then create the communication around that. Berlin is the ideal city for that — you are really close to the current pop-culture and zeitgeist here and we use that a lot in our everyday work. We consult fashion, beauty and lifestyle clients and a lot of them are from the Scandinavian market. Twice a year we take part in the German Press Days where we invite editors from Munich and Hamburg to come to Berlin and visit the showrooms of local agencies — e-mail, phone and video calls are of course great tools for our everyday job, but the personal connection and those intimate presentations are really game changing for us as an agency.

The venue seems perfect for networking; we are stunned with the warm and welcoming look of the Supergloo office. Were you responsible for the interior design?

First of all, thank you! I love our space — we moved in at the end of last year and tried to integrate a modern touch that wouldn’t take away from details such as original wall elements in the shape of angels or those gorgeous wing doors. Also, we host a lot of events in our showroom, so it’s important that the interior can be versatile. Still, we haven’t even been in our office for a year and there are a lot of projects in the planning such as for example a photo studio and lot of wall curtains. To come back to your initial question: yes, I do the interior design.

Are there any places (in Berlin or worldwide) where your art is exhibited at the moment?

My works were a part of a group exhibition in New York at Lobster Club, which is so cool! Next month I will also start working permanently with a New York gallery, so there has been a lot of focus on the US market for me recently. In Europe I have been working with galleries in Berlin and Vienna and I am excited about projects upcoming this fall.