“Books — they’re a refuge and a haven of peace, daydreams in a handy format. I like to lose myself in the pages. I like to lose myself in general: in books, in dreams, in memories, and in the streets. Sometimes I find it difficult to find myself again. I would say that I have my difficulties with this world. Bookshops have always been my refuge. In Berlin and when traveling.” I couldn’t introduce this article more beautifully than by using Charly’s own words. Charly is the owner of the small bookshop ivry books in Kreuzberg, which opened on February 13, 2024. With its minimalist interior, it offers the ideal setting for his books in the former carriage entrance of the old building: a church pew, stucco and fresco ceiling come up against filing shelves, corrugated iron and LED tubes. The bookshop has a timeless feel, it whispers stories of the past, but also of the new and the present: Stories of Charly and eloquent authors, sometimes fictional, sometimes autobiographical. They tell of the world of yesterday, today and tomorrow — or at least of what we hope tomorrow will bring. They tell stories in German, in English, and occasionally through art and photography. Some stories speak of hatred and discrimination, but they only find their place here on paper in ink. Charly has created an inclusive space at ivry books and supports the initiative Verlage gegen Rechts. The shelves are mostly filled with books from independent publishers, and Charly as a person is just as open as his hand-picked selection of books.
Charly was born in Berlin and lives with his son almost around the corner from the store. The digital world is foreign to him — as he quickly realized while studying communication design — and it doesn’t make him happy either. When he walked past the free space for the first time, he didn’t hesitate for long, because his neighborhood lacked a place like ivry, “a dreamy place, without prejudices and judgments”. “I think good books are more important today than ever before. There is a lot to learn, to tell and to experience. We have to take the time for that. And the space. I don’t know if my business will work out mathematically. But in the end, the heart is more important than numbers. At least that’s my view of things.”
Text: Robyn Steffen / Photos: Rapeepat Boonmongkolwat, Saskia Gettel
ivry books, Großbeerenstr.36, 10965 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map
@ivrybooks
