As a queer-owned business, we owe so much of our success to our community of incredible queer professionals and we wanted to share our recommendations. More about us and our story here.
We wanted to share our lovely network of queer illustrators, translators, retailers, tarot readers, cafes, and organisations that have shaped and helped build Polar Embassy. We highly recommend working with everyone on this list!
Artists
PC: Rory Midhani
Rory (he/him) illustrated our deck of playing cards,
Club of Queens - it’s a celebration of queer and trans people living their lives and loving it. Rory creates mixed-media pieces, paintings, and drawings, all which playfully celebrate the lives of the queer community.
His artworks have been featured in publications and exhibitions across Europe and North America, and he has worked as an illustrator for an international client base. Past clients include Buzzfeed, Medium, Folx Health, Transgender Europe, Flow Magazine, Curve, Siegessäule, Planned Parenthood and Autostraddle.
Reach out to Rory
here to hire him for your projects!
PC: Chloé Desnoyers
Clara (she/her) is a French illustrator based in Berlin who illustrated our
Merry Families kids game. She works mostly on children books and editorial illustrations and finds inspiration in nature and the streets and people of Berlin. Her work is feminist, queer and aims to capture various points of view from her surrounding world. In her illustrations, Clara depicts a diverse and non-conformist society, one that is too often forgotten in children's books and games.
If you have a book for children (or adults) that you’d like illustrated, or another illustration to commission, reach out to Clara
here.
Translation
Paula (she/her) and I met at a pop-up this summer because she’s also a badass ceramicist- check out Des Vases on
Instagram! She translated our whole website into French and was so fast, easy to communicate with, and organized throughout the whole process.
Reach out to Paula
via her LinkedIn to hire her for translations EN/DE/FR/ES/CAT.
German Courses and Curriculum
Mercedes (they/them) runs Queer Gesprochen?!, a German class with queer-focused and sensitive approach to gender, sexuality, and language. The coursebook they wrote on gender-neutral language has been really helpful for us as we write German blog posts and book reports. We particularly recommend them for learners at beginning levels who also want to learn gender-neutral grammar German in a safer environment.
Stockists
We love all of our stockists! They are awesome allies, wonderful weirdos, creative curators, and reliable retailers with whom we love to partner. This list is to highlight those who are also queer-owned:
Berlin
Ivallan’s is the cutest secondhand (and new) bookstore you’ve ever let overwhelm you. Proprietor Ilya has created a literary queer paradise in Reuterkiez with a focus on literature in English, poetry, and cats. They regularly host queer open-mic and poetry events. Stay tuned via
their Instagram.
Schönleinstr. 32, 10967 Berlin
Keller Kreuzberg is a queer sex-positive store for art, books, games, sex toys, and all stripes of goodies and merch. Their staff is friendly, helpful, and hilarious.
Reichenberger Str. 48, 10999 Berlin
Other nature is a queer-feminist sex-positive collective. Their shop has a committed focus on sex education and environmentally- and body-safe products. Follow them on
Instagram to stay in the loop on their many workshops and events centered on queer and trans* sexual health and pleasure.
Mehringdamm 79, 10965 Berlin
Prinz Eisenherz has history. Opened in 1978, it’s the center on Motzstr. for books and ideas, as well as DVDs, CDs, magazines, and games. They host regular book clubs and readings by queer authors.
Motzstraße 23, 10777 Berlin
Schwuz is an institution on Berlin’s queer clubbing scene that also holds space for readings, shows, and other events that celebrate queer performers and artists. They also have a cheeky vending machine with queer merch, including our playing cards.
Rollbergstraße 26, 12053 Berlin
Transfabel is a curated online shop of German-language products by and for trans* and gender non-conforming people. Their reviews of each product are super helpful so you can find the right book, pin, flag, shirts, games, puzzles, jewellery, decorations, etc.
Hamburg
Fuck Yeah Sex Shop is a collectively-owned sex-positive queer-feminist shop with toys, books, gender expression products, and safer sex products. Their staff are veteran sex educators - one has written a fantastic book about sex education for teens (in German), Sex in Echt.
Caffamacherreihe 43, 20355 Hamburg
Leipzig
Juicy is a sex-positive, sex-worker-friendly shop with a particular focus on locally made, sustainable sex toys. Keep an eye out for their workshops (in German) via their Instagram.
Arno-Nitzsche-Straße 20, 04277 Leipzig
Vienna
Löwenherz is an important piece of gay Vienna, with now more than 12,000 titles since opening in 1993. They also have DVDs, CDs, and games, and host many events like film nights. Berggasse 8, 1090 Wien, Austria
PS if you're one of our queer-owned stockists and we missed you on this list, please let us know, so we can highlight you here!
Non-Profits
These that do great work to uplift Berlin's queer communities. We have supported financially in the past:
Casa Kuà is a health-focused community center run for and by trans* and non-binary BIPoCs here in Berlin Kreuzberg. Check
their website to learn more and see how you can support them.
Schwulenberatung Berlin is a community center offering social services to Berlin’s queer communities like counselling, crisis housing for refugees, safer sex education and resources like STI checks, elder care, and education. For more information, check
their website.
Cafes / event spaces / caterers
C+ Bakery is our go-to for vegan treats. Finally, Caris (she/they), one of our favorite bakers/caterers has a home base in Wrangelkiez, C+ Bakery with regular community events like singles’ night, karaoke, meet-ups, and movie nights.
Falckensteinstraße 35, 10997 Berlin
Spiers is a cosy bakery with decadent treats and a wide selection of fancy sodas. Jacob, the chef behind it all, does a particularly great job with the vegan quiche.
Ohlauer Str. 4, 10999 Berlin
Tarot Card Reading
PC: Jon Derman Harris
If you need a Tarot card reader in Berlin, we cannot recommend Care (they/them) highly enough! They are a trauma-informed practitioner of astrology, tarot, hypnosis, and reiki. And if that wasn’t enough, they’re also a doula! Care is our go-to Tarot reader for IRL events.
Impact Consulting
If you are a startup or SME in need of a consultant on sustainable business strategy, brand development, or event management, let us point you towards
Coral Ruz (she/her). She's the founder and CEO of the
Zero Waste Berlin Festival (!) and helps startups with regenerative missions develop and execute crowdfunding and marketing campaigns.
