nationality: German

Claudia Santiago Areal was born in Laufen, Germany in 1966.

After training as a cabinet maker at the Garmisch Technical College ( 1986 – 1989 ) she studied interior architecture at the Academy of Applied Arts in Munich from 1992 - 1999. Since setting up her own design studio in Dachau in 2002 and her dependence in Italy in 2005, she has developed furniture, products and lighting, which swinging between enjoyment and function.

What the hell is making design ?  ... it´s an adventure

1966 born in Germany
1989 graduation in joinery / cabinet making
1999 graduation in interior architecture at the Munich Academy of Applied Arts
2000-2004 teaching design and construction at the Munich Master School of Joinery
2002 setting up Claudia Santiago Areal Design Studio

Plum dumplings (recipe for 4 persons)

1 lb potatoes, mealy, high starch
2 eggs
10 oz all-purpose flour
dash of salt
flour to work with
8 plums, sour
8 sugar cubes
Rum
2 oz butter
4 oz breadcrumbs
cinnamon

Boil the potatoes until done.Then let them cooling down and put them in the fridge over night.
Peal and rasp then. Don´t mash them.
Add eggs, salt and flour and mix it by hands.
The ingredients should be well combined with as little kneady as possible. It should look still unmixed, crumbly.
Let rest it for 30 minutes
Wash plums, open them and discard the stone.
Place a with Rum soaked sugar cube in the center, where the stone was.
Take the dough and shape a wurst.
Share it in 8 equal parts
Take one piece of the dough, squeeze and press and flatter it.
From a small bowl in your palm, place one of the plums inside and surround it with dough. Close all openings, and squeeze and press the dumpling to expel any remaining air.
Form all dumplings and place them on a floured surface before cooking them.
Boil water in a pot. Then the water reaches a roiling boil, add the dumplings step by step and very carefully.
Boil them for about 4 minutes, remove the pot from heat and leave dumplings in water for a further 15 minutes.  They are cooked as soon as they are coming up to the surface on the water.
The cooked dumplings are usually rolled in sweet breadcrumbs.
Melt butter in a pan, add breadcrumbs. Fry lightly and stir well until crumbs are hot and a little brown
Roll fruit dumplings in the prepared hot sweetened breadcrumbs, put one or two spoonful of crumbs on top of the dumpling and dust with powdered sugar and cinnamon. 

Eat, enjoy!

Normally potato dumplings are served without any filling, to accompany traditional sauced dished like roast pork. But one of the Bavarian´s and particularly Austrian´s food specialities is to fill the dumplings with plums. You can serve it as a warm desert. We are used to eat it also as main meal.

It happened in summer 1990. we have been in our second year of our apprenticeship of joinery. Me and my friend Laura have been hitchhiked from Germany to Italy with just 50 German Mark in the pocket. On the second day, almost half the money went off. Laura had to buy sunglasses. The have been all around Tuscany and at least at Elba, a very italian island. We slept on the beach and repaired the deckchairs at a seaside cafe´. So we had got to eat and drink twice a day. We had absolutely a lot of fun. It was a perfect holiday.

But there was one moment I´ll never forget. It happened on our way back. We spend a couple of days in Florence. We walked along the famous Ponte Vecchio. Suddenly, in the middle of the bridge, I´ve seen a bunch of red roses in a trash bin. By the way I´ve seen a smart Italian guy, seeing me, seeing the roses. I haven´t been of further interest in him, but I told Laura: I´ll get a rose in a second” and just in that moment the guy stopped in front of me, brought me a rose and present me a pretty nice smile. Just a smile; and a red rose...

Heini Linkshänder Worpswede, Germany

His restless spirit did not allow him to apply to an art academy. He got his studies done by illegally sitting in on lectures from, amongst others, Prof. Wotruba in Vienna and Salzburg, Prof. Ortner in Linz, Prof. Kirchner in Munich, and Prof. J. Beuys in Düsseldorf. He did this for a couple of years and then from 1977 to 1979 he enrolled as a legal student at the Summer Academy in Salzburg (printing and sculpture class) and since 1972 he really works exclusively as a freelance sculptor.

Influenced by the way in which he sees life, with its complex truths, both inside and outside, affects the way he uses the material in the creative process. He uses the materials special characteristics, develop language and dialogue with it. he grew up in his fathers business. From playing with the materials of childhood through to my apprenticeship as a joiner, he has begun again to play with sculpture materials. From the process of thought and reason he tries to bring form together to create a valid truth. For him this means not the aesthetic enjoyment of an object, but the identification of spiritual harmony.

"I have extend my right arm by thinking"
Linkshänder, engl. left-hander
He lost his arm with at the age of 22 years.