What AMPELMANN Berlin is known for
AMPELMANN turns Karl Peglau's East German pedestrian crossing figures into a gift and design business. Its first shop opened in 2001 in Hof 5 of Berlin's Hackesche Höfe, after Markus Heckhausen began making lamps from original traffic-light glass in 1996. This courtyard shop is distinct from the later Unter den Linden flagship.
AMPELMANN grew from the East German pedestrian crossing figures designed by Karl Peglau. Markus Heckhausen worked with Peglau to give those figures a life beyond the street, beginning with lamps made from original red and green traffic-light glass in 1996. The company followed in 1999, before its first shop opened in 2001 in Berlin's Hackesche Höfe.
That original shop is in Hof 5 at Rosenthaler Straße 40–41. It belongs to a different chapter of the business from the later flagship on Unter den Linden, so the two should not be treated as the same address. The courtyard setting also gives a specific destination to a name that appears at several Berlin shops.
The red and green figures provide the link between the original lamps and the wider gift business. For a souvenir, decide whether the appeal is the traffic-light design itself or an object you will use at home. The company's history explains that connection without turning a Berlin retail address into a claim that every product is manufactured in Germany.
How ORBIS reads this city
Best for — AMPELMANN products featuring Berlin’s pedestrian-light figures
Berlin, Germany
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