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2026-06-02 · berlin

Karim Haddad-Wedeking — Neukölln-Sonnenallee, Workwear-Studio Stamm + Reuterkiez Saturday-Stand

Karim Haddad-Wedeking in the workwear-studio side-room at Sonnenallee, indigo selvedge raw-denim chore-coat over white tee, sand-color carpenter pants, the small Mim-stick-and-poke at the right shoulder visible beneath the rolled-up sleeve, Tuesday late-afternoon Neukölln light from the back-courtyard window

Neukölln-Sonnenallee, Tuesday four-fifty. The Workwear-Studio sits between a Spätkauf and a Lebanese Konditorei. Wooden floor, raw-denim stacks at the back, a single rolling-rack of chore-coats by the changing-curtain.

I had met Karim at the Reuterkiez Vintage-Stand on Saturday — he runs that stand too, between eleven and four every Saturday since 2022. Komm Dienstag im Studio vorbei, da ist mehr Ruhe.

Karim was at the changing-curtain, folding a stack of carpenter pants. Indigo selvedge raw-denim chore-coat over white tee, sand-color carpenter pants, the small Mim-stick-and-poke at his right shoulder catching the light beneath the rolled-up sleeve.

Setz dich da. Ich bin gleich da.

Born 2002 in Schöneberg-Friedenau. Mother: Beiruti, Hamra-quarter, came to West-Berlin in 1985 during the civil-war exit-wave, trained as Krankenschwester at the Vivantes. Father: Schöneberg-Wessi-Beamten-Linie, third-generation Berlin-Beamter-Familie, retired Finanzamt-Sachbearbeiter. The Cross-Line — Beirut-Hamra-1985-civil-war-arrival-mother plus Schöneberg-Wessi-Beamten-Familie-father — gives Karim a specific bi-cultural code that you can hear in two seconds of his German.

The Workwear-Studio came as a Stamm-Position in 2021 through a friend from his Sonnenallee-Café-circle. The owner is a Reuterkiez-Workwear-Sammler-Veteran in his forties. Karim works Tuesday through Friday in the studio. Saturdays the Vintage-Stand at the Reuterkiez Maybachufer.

The Mim-stick-and-poke on the right shoulder — تذكر — done by a Hausprojekt-Künstlerin from the Reuterkiez in 2023, three weeks after his mother's death. Das ist nicht für den Look. Das ist für sie.

Karim at the back of the studio, the raw-denim stacks at full depth, the rolling-rack of chore-coats and the floor-lamp with warm Edison-bulb at the side, Neukölln late-afternoon courtyard-light

Two customers came in at five-fifteen. Karim folded the last pair of pants, set them on the stack, turned toward the door with that Sonnenallee-Café-circle hello — half-nod plus half-wave, both at once. I asked when. Donnerstag Mittag bin ich am Maybachufer-Stand schon halb-elf.

Field-Book BER-2026-Q2-044. Berlin-Neukölln-Second-Generation-Lebanese-Berlin-Workwear-Cross-Line-Cohort-Anchor.