In a moment where Berlin’s cultural identity feels increasingly fragile, artist and Studio HORT founder Eike König steps into the public space with a collection that speaks in bold type and silent tension. Created in collaboration with PLATTE for Berlin Art Week, his garments carry more than fabric—they carry fear, doubt, resistance, and a quiet, enduring hope. This is fashion as language, protest, and presence.
We talk to Eike König ahead of his Berlin Art Week launch at PLATTE, Berlin on 10th September, about fashion as resistance, doubt as language, and the power of presence.
Hey dear, so nice to have you in our KEYI world – community! Could you introduce yourselves?
Hi, nice to meet you, I am Eike, lover, father, citizen, founder of Studio HORT, working as an artist and a professor.
Your collaboration with PLATTE. Berlin goes far beyond fashion—congrats! What was the core idea or emotion behind the collection during its creation?
Fashion has always been political, with surfaces long serving as vessels of communication. As my artistic practice engages with language and its shifting horizons of meaning, it felt natural to embrace this collaboration as a way of giving form to the emotions I experience—emotions shaped by the present moment, resonating both globally and within the immediacy of the local.
The keywords—DER ZWEIFEL, DRAMA, DESPAIR, PRESENCE.ABSENCE—are incredibly charged. How did you choose these particular words, and what do they mean to you in the context of today’s cultural change?
At their core, these are terms and states of being that shift in meaning depending on their context. Here, as a commentary on the cuts to cultural budgets in Berlin and the uncertainties—and, at times, existential fears—that follow, they can be seen as belonging to different realms of culture: Drama for the performing arts; Doubt, and the uncertainty it gives rise to, for students of the arts; Presence & Absence for the fading of the club scene and the loss of studio spaces; and finally, Despair as the overarching sentiment, where doubt expands into an all-consuming condition.
You’re known primarily as a visual artist. What does fashion offer as a medium that’s different from the screen?
Clothing can become a moving poster, carrying its message as it drifts through the urban landscape. This creates an entirely different quality of encounter between sender and receiver, amplifying the resonance of a message while opening space for dialogue.
The collection is sustainably produced—how important was that element to you creatively and ethically?
With all the knowledge and possibilities at hand, it is only natural for me to choose the most environmentally gentle form of production.
How do you see the intersection of fashion, politics, and youth identity evolving in Berlin right now?
I have no idea.
What do you hope people feel—or question—when they see or wear this collection?
I believe it is important to bring emotions and fears into the public sphere. Those who wear these garments become mediators, helping us to open a dialogue around them. To me, this is not a sign of weakness, but of strength. I hope that those who encounter them may also feel seen—and that, perhaps, a collective impulse to act might emerge from this recognition. With the words of my partner Anne: moving from a passive victim to an active owner of thre narrative.
When you’re not in the studio, what does a perfect weekend in Berlin look like for you?
Cycling through the city with my family, visiting exhibitions, meeting friends, savoring delicious food, drifting without a set plan—and in all of it, feeling a profound connection to the places, the people, and to myself.
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