The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, 20 years ago today. The end to the separation of East Berlin and West Berlin occurred after weeks of civil unrest, finally uniting the city.

Berliners are celebrating today in many ways, big and small. In five of our favorite Berlin shops, today kicks off the "Berlin Through My Lens" Exhibition, a free self-guided walking tour in Berlin Mitte, sponsored by Kolo. The three-week exhibition features the works of many members of Berlin’s creative community, sharing their interpretations of Berlin in finished Kolo books.

If you’re in Berlin this month, be sure to check out the “Berlin Through My Lens” Exhibition to see these original works of art, photography, writing and poetry. For more information go here.

This is the new window display at Hauptsache Papeterie, Rosenthaler Strasse 32, Berlin - one of the Berlin shops participating in this event. (This papeterie is where actress Susan Sarandon likes to pick up Kolo photo albums when she’s in Berlin.)

Look for future posts highlighting some of the best Berlin-themed Kolo books from the exhibition.

Brochures with a map for the walking tour are available at each of the five participating shops: Aarven at Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse 2; Hauptsache at Rosenthaler Strasse 32 ; Leporello at Rykestrasse 46; Monochrom-Berlin at Ackerstrasse 23-26; and Sieben Wuensche at Tucholskystrasse 45.

- Kate

Photographer Kelli Taylor celebrated her grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary by collecting all the old photographs they kept throughout their home and displaying the best ones in an archival-quality Kolo Luxury Cortina photo album with scrapbook-style pages.

Despite her initial hesitation, she decided to keep some of the original Greek Key borders around the pictures:

My original intention was to cut the frames off, however, I decided that it added character and I wanted to maintain the original flair.

Kelli’s inspiration for her project:

My grandparents have so many amazing photos tucked into every nook and cranny of their house, that it's become my mission to salvage them all and store them safely in one place. Earlier this year, I drove up for a weekend and scanned as many photos as I could. These are a selection of my favorites commemorating their 60-year marriage, which I gave to them for their anniversary this month.

My favorite part is my grandmother's handwritten inscriptions on the backs of the photos. I made sure to scan these inscriptions as well, and paired them in the album with their corresponding photos. They tell the story of my grandparents' early beginnings as cotton farmers in Arkansas, and their move to Michigan to start a family.

I think I may make a copy of this book for myself too. I love looking through the weathered albums and boxes of original photos at their house, but it's nice to have a personal copy that I'm comfortable keeping on the coffee table.

More about this project in a future post.

For a discussion about the importance of using archival-quality materials for storing and displaying photographs, go here.

Visit Kelli Taylor’s web site here.

- Kate