poast: mr. anderl, is it true that you are the son and heir of an old established optical family which has fourteen optical businesses in berlin, and that you went into business for yourself in order to find your true self?
 
anderl: no.  my grandparents were farmers and country doctors.  my mother is a doctor for the mentally ill, and my father teaches art in vechta.  no trace of optics or sheet-metal glasses, even though it is true that near sightedness does run in the family.
 
poast: what led you then to sheet-metal glasses?
 
anderl: two school friends of mine had developed screwless sheet-metal glasses in berlin.  at that time they were still hand-cut from aluminum.  they wanted to sell their idea to a glasses producer in southern germany.  so that this producer would understand their design better, they decided to take some photos with special berlin flare.  they asked me if i would stand in as a hairless model.  i first got to know the glasses at “kaiser’s” supermarket on warschauer street 72.  extremely fragile pieces, in that the ingenious hinge system was already recognizable.  i fell in love ad hoc.  then, everything went with north-german speed:  the glasses producer said, “no,” and the yellow pages revealed all the secrets of metal cutting and optics: the world-sheet-metal-glasses company, “ic! berlin,” was born.
 
poast: when was that, and what were you actually doing in berlin?
 
anderl: that must have been back in the summer of 1996.  at that time i was working on my doctorate’s thesis concerning robert musil: “the collapse of culture.”  i was living off of a parent sponsored scholarship and from my wife’s income, who was working at an attorney’s office.  a little distraction was just the right thing.
 
poast: doctorate and sheet-metal glasses at the same time – how was that manageable?
 
anderl: well, at the time, very well.  long before sheet-metal glasses, the desire to set something in motion had arisen in me.  in school i had very successfully brought a school newspaper to life, which was then “banned” because advertisers were unwilling to invest.  in my thesis i was handling the theme of civilisational confusion and the ways out of it.  with musil, that was the first world war.  the confusion seemed conspicuously familiar to me.  this, “what should i do?” / “everything is possible – but what is right?”  you understand me?
 
poast: no
 
anderl: that is to say, in societies which exist in the sphere of civilization there is no longer any existential threat.  the people are satisfied but confused – become lost in the turmoil of endless possibilities, and end up sitting somewhere broken down in the corner.  i found this sitting-in-the-corner thing back then  to be unsexy.  to found a company, to do something, to have the courage, to take risks – for me that all stood in direct causality with my doctorate.  at the same time it was an anti-reaction.  my partners at the time were also voicing these “civilizational” misgivings.  they were very skeptical about self-employment and it was the negative reply from this glasses producer which first set the whole thing off, because there were no other alternatives available outside of my goading, that we should do it ourselves.  the other way around: if the producer had said “yes,” there would have been no “ic! berlin.”
 
poast: ah, i understand, are you now a doctor?  on your business card it says, “sheet-metal-glasses salesman?!”
 
anderl: yes, i’m not a doctor.  my doctoral supervisor ripped me off.  as soon as he heard about the sheet-metal glasses, i was thrown out of the doctoral class.  even still, i haven’t lost hope.  although my little sister is now threatening to pass me by in terms of straight away academic ambition.
 
poast: you studied literature at humboldt university?  under whom?
 
anderl: no, cultural pedagogic in hildesheim.
 
poast: cultural…what?  where is hildesheim?
 
anderl: cultural pedagogic is a mix between art, and literature or music.  theoretical and practical.  on top of that come philosophy, sociology, and politics or education.  in the end, this stew is then called “cultural pedagogic”.  hildesheim is to the south of hanover – a place where you can study in quiet, completely undistracted.
 
poast: in a “tymes” interview, you mentioned that you have already written three novels.  is there a bit of musil hidden in you?
 
anderl: the works are entitled, “gabelstapler and tieflader,” “you do it,” and “love in roma ni.”  they have not yet been published though.  the new german literature just hasn‘t come far enough yet.  the critics and academics don’t understand them, even when their few readers are of course ecstatic over them.  a phenomenon similar to our metal glasses?!
 
poast: intellectuals avoid “ic! berlin?”
 
anderl: no.  in the beginning, the opticians were more skeptical than the final customers.  normal people found our glasses great – opticians wrinkled their noses.
 
poast: i understand.
 
anderl: very nice.
 
poast: do you feel comfortable in the glasses-world?
 
anderl: yes, extremely.  this whole university rhythm, this constant, “well, that is all a bit unrealistic and just not possible within one semester,” really got on my nerves, although as a rule i think culture is great.  the other way around: luckily, “ic! berlin has a pretty significant culturally pedagogical contingent.  my colleagues all become culturally indoctrinated…
 
poast: that’s supposed to mean?
 
anderl: for one thing, we put out a book, a travel guide, from mic vieser and reto wettach, “overlooked sights – german places” in the fall of 2004.  that is pure cultural pedagogic.  for another thing, we have an “ic! berlin” choir.  every tuesday afternoon.  on top of that, we exchange glasses for works of art.  the artists receive glasses – we get art.  a nice little collection has already come together.
 
poast: is there going to be an “ic! berlin” museum?
 
anderl: yeah, that would be wonderful.  one of my goals. – but back to your last question: i see a great challenge in building up a company.  a high-performance company, which does high-performance justice to the possibilities inherent in its products.  i believe that “ic! berlin” has the potential to develop into a global company – that is, we still have a long way to go.  i see the company as an organism, which grows healthily, develops structures and organs, but must also apply therapy to faulty parts, or have tumors removed, even when it hurts.  in other words, dynamic.
 
poast: you are a cultural pedagogue, and have maybe even read musil, but what you are describing, shouldn’t a pro rather take the wheel, a business management professional for instance?
 
anderl: no. absolutely not.  pros are, as a rule, not in a position to build up something new.  they usually know the right answers to the wrong questions, or they just don’t listen.  my experience: “ic! berlin” was not founded by pros.  (anderl takes his glasses from his nose, and ponders over the situation…) but we need professionals – more and more in every department.  i remain cultural pedagogue and bring in the fruitful confusion.  the creative chaos.  as frictionless as possible.  it doesn’t make much sense there to dilettante-around.  when all is running well, there are always new ideas to develop and to put into to practice.  “pro one,” for instance.  i envision continually bringing the creative disruption into the company, without the company being turned into a government office.
 
poast: you intend to open up a “pro-shop.”  sport gear?
 
anderl: no, no.  it is to be a non-profit charity organization, which sells glasses with small defects bringing in a lot of money.  all the money, and not just a small percentage, will go to an intelligent project which contributes to understanding among the nations of the world.  i am working on this project with klaas gleenewinkel together, who runs the “baghdad radio” in berlin, and who is an expert on charity foundations and world-one-labs.
 
poast: got it.  will you always remain “sheet-metal-glasses- salesman?”
 
anderl: of course not!  read my resume, and you will know everything.  as a matter of fact, i tend to see myself as following the traces of herman hesse, and his hero, siddharta.  after the initial phase of life within an economic context, other worlds will follow.  i feel good about that.  that is, first to be as successful as possible with so called “business,” only to cast it all away again and to move on to the next adventure.  in this way, each undertaking acquires maximum seriousness, because it has not been formulated as an absolute life-long goal.  paradox?
 
poast: hmm, yeah, maybe!?
 
anderl: — but rectified.  in the end, it’s all about leaving everything behind you, and dying without any ballast.  preferably while standing, and after prior announcement, like in the middle ages.  that may be the basis, truly to achieve something.
 
poast: are you religious?
 
anderl: naturally!  catholic.  roman.
 
poast: …married? children?
 
anderl: yes, since 1997.  monogamous with my wife since 1990.  children: two (2000 and 2003).
 
poast: you are a sort of car freak, and love speedy driving? a colleague of mine told me that you had lost your drivers license because of that in braunschweig?
 
anderl: i have never been the owner of a driver’s license, and i don’t intend to dump any more money into the old “driving bank.” – but might i ask you a question?
 
poast: yes, gladly!
 
anderl: could it be, that this isn’t an interview at all, but a kind of one-man discussion?
 
poast: one-man what?
 
anderl: i mean a one-man conversation – one man talking to himself.  that is, alone in one room.  a sort of inner monologue.
 
poast: what do you mean to say?
 
anderl: what do you mean to say?!
 
poast: ah ha! anderl: ah ha.
 
poast: exactly…