What inspired you to write your extensive, three-volume work?

My own collection, which is presented in detail in the two catalog volumes, was the inspiration for the academic study of the topic "KPM in the 20th century". I was practically born with a love of modernist Berlin porcelain from my parents. I began to expand the collection early on, so that it is now the largest of its kind in the world. In addition, it was particularly important to me to bring the artists who designed for the manufactory in the seventy years between 1918 and 1988 out of the shadows of the past and back into the public eye; their artistic peculiarities and their often bumpy life paths, due to the turmoil of the 20th century, deserve in-depth study, which art historians have not yet done for the most part.

What fascinates you about KPM Berlin, its history, its artists and its works?

Even after years of studying the products of the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin, I am still fascinated by the sheer endless diversity of the art and utility porcelain produced. This applies both to the constantly evolving model design and the manifold decorative designs.

In your more than ten years of research into KPM Berlin, is there one finding that you found particularly exciting?

While working on my book, I made countless new discoveries: be it in relation to the authorship of individual models or decorations or in the biographies of the artists involved. It was a real eye-opener when I discovered, for example, that Edith Alberti, who designed for KPM in the 1920s and about whom little more than her name was known until then, worked as an antiques dealer in Berlin after her marriage until the 1970s and was therefore also known to my father.

Do you have a favorite object in your porcelain collection?

My favorite object is always the last one I bought, because there is still a lot to discover and describe.

In your opinion, how did the Berlin porcelain manufactory differ from today's privately run company during the period you outlined?

The Berlin Porcelain Manufactory was always a model state enterprise, even in the days of the Prussian kings and German emperors. This role model function, which was desired and proudly accepted on the basis of tradition and statute (State Porcelain Manufactory) in relation to private porcelain production, also applied in the interwar years and into the 1960s, despite various difficulties, before the artistic development went steadily downhill. The change in society and culture went hand in hand with the almost complete neglect of the manufactory's cultural heritage. The transition to the private sector can of course bring with it completely new artistic freedoms, even if the traditional heritage must always remain a large part of the company's identity.

You described the biographies of the individual artists in detail in the third volume. Is there a person among them to whom you feel a particular affinity?

In the course of my many years of researching over eighty artists, I have grown particularly fond of some of them. This does not always have to do with their artistic oeuvre; often the biographical circumstances made me develop a special sympathy for a particular person. For family reasons, the difficult fates triggered by the Nazi barbarism were particularly close to my heart, ranging from existential fears due to professional bans, life-threatening persecution and exile to suicide out of fear of imminent annihilation.

If you could decide which porcelain object from your collection should be reissued at KPM-Berlin - what would you choose?

In my opinion, an innovative manufactory would do well to develop new, contemporary products itself, ideally in a synthesis of form and decoration. I therefore recognize the temptation to use designers and artists from past eras for today's production, and my work certainly contains numerous rediscoveries that have lost none of their fascination in the 21st century. However, I can only advise KPM not to dwell too much on the past, but to look to the future with an open mind to external influences and to produce new porcelains that are typical of their time.