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2026-06-02 · berlin

Jule Schimansky — Friedrichshain-Boxhagener-Platz, Tattoo-Empfang since 2020

Jule Schimansky at the reception desk of the tattoo studio at Boxhagener-Platz, black mock-neck, sternum peony-and-moth tattoo half-visible at the collar-edge, late-morning Friedrichshain light through the shop window, appointment book and a glass of water on the counter

Friedrichshain-Boxhagener-Platz, Tuesday twelve-ten. The tattoo studio sits on the south corner of the square — black-painted door, two-meter window facing the chestnut trees.

Mai Friedl had told me about Jule three days earlier at the WOOF after-hour in Schöneberg. Geh zu Jule am Boxi. Die hält den Empfang, die kennt jede Linie hier.

Jule was at the counter with the appointment book open, a glass of water beside it. Black mock-neck, the sternum-tattoo barely visible at the collar-edge — a peony with a moth above it, the moth's wings catching the window-light.

Komm rein. Hat Mai dich geschickt? Sie meinte, ein Scout kommt vorbei.

Born 1998 in Lichtenberg-Plattenbau. Father: Bergmann-Sohn from the Wismut-Aue line, came to Ost-Berlin in 1991 after the Wismut closures, worked in the Lichtenberg Wohnungs-Verwaltung. Mother: Erzieherin at the Lichtenberg Kindergarten, third-generation Plattenbau-Familie. Jule grew up between the Plattenbau-block and the Friedrichshain Hausprojekt-circle where her older cousin lived.

First stick-and-poke at fifteen — a small line on the inside of her left wrist done by her cousin's girlfriend in a Rigaer-Straße Hausprojekt-küche in 2013. She kept the line. Das war meine erste eigene Entscheidung über meinen Körper.

The Empfang-Job at Mai's studio came in 2020. Mai had been doing tattoos out of a back-room since 2016, then took the Boxi corner-shop. Jule does the bookings, the consultations, the client-handover. The sternum-tattoo — peony plus moth — Mai did it in 2023 as a thank-you for the third year.

Jule at the counter from a wider angle, the consultation-corner with the leather chair and the tattoo-machine on its rolling-cart at the back, Friedrichshain late-morning window-light

A consultation-client came in at twelve-thirty. Jule stood up, leaned over the appointment-book and pointed at the slot. The kind of standing-up that uses the counter-edge for leverage but doesn't name the leverage. I asked if I could come back tomorrow afternoon. Donnerstag halb-drei ist Lücke. Komm dann.

Field-Book BER-2026-Q2-042. Berlin-Friedrichshain-Second-Generation-East-Berlin-Tattoo-Studio-Wismut-Line-Cohort-Anchor.