IN CONVERSATION: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY EDITION
Kristiane Kegelmann by Luis Bompasteur; Anastasia Pilepchuk courtesy of the artist; Eva Che by Ecaterina Rusu
Ahead of International Women’s Day, we turn our attention to three Berlin-based practitioners whose work is shaped by conviction, sensitivity and a strong sense of self. Artist Anastasia Pilepchuk reflects on ritual, identity and the quiet power of intuition; Kristiane Kegelmann approaches food, space and collaboration as an evolving artistic language; and chef Eva Che treats cooking as a site of curiosity, discipline and emotional exchange. Across art, hospitality and craft, their perspectives differ, yet each reveals a distinct way of moving through the world. It is this plurality of female voices, attitudes and approaches that we want to celebrate.
ANASTASIA PILEPCHUK
The artist in one of her more ethereal creations, photographed by Tauras D
Anastasia Pilepchuk is a Berlin-based multidisciplinary artist working primarily with sculptural masks. Using a wide range of materials and techniques, her practice explores transformation, evolution, modern rituals and cultural heritage. Her work examines mediated identity and the tension between tradition and innovation, often existing at the threshold between sculpture and wearable art – personal in origin with collective resonance.
What feels important in your work today – and what has shifted since you first started out?
Anastasia Pilepchuk: When I first started, it felt important to reveal the parts of myself that were not considered normal or conventional. I wanted to stand out, to speak loudly, almost to scream about what was inside me. I often felt that I didn’t fully belong to any community, and my way of seeing the world didn’t fit easily into accepted frameworks. Making work was a way to assert my presence and difference.
Today, something has softened and clarified. I understand myself better and treat my way of seeing with more care and respect. Instead of pushing outward, I now invite others to enter this mode of perception with me. A calmer, more complex, layered way of thinking, built from many small details that ask the viewer to stop, look closely, and breathe. The urgency to prove has shifted into a desire to share a state.
Has being a woman influenced the way you approach your work, or how it’s perceived?
AP: I am happy to be a woman. I enjoy being in my body, in my mental and emotional state, and feeling the subtle and powerful processes that take place within it. It’s difficult to compare, since I’ve never been anything else, but on a deep level I feel that feminine wisdom has guided me toward the form my practice has taken.
I accept softness, intuition, slowness, and sensitivity as strengths rather than weaknesses. I consciously work with this energy and allow it to shape how I create. Care, repetition, touch, and attention feel natural to me, and I see them not as something secondary, but as central forces in my work.
"When choosing materials and methods, I follow what can most honestly express what I want to say." (Images courtesy of the artist)
Are there expectations placed on you that you’ve consciously chosen to step away from?
AP: In the past, I was drawn to visibility, recognition, and being at the center of attention. I wanted my work and myself to be seen widely and intensely. At some point, I realized that this expectation was pulling me away from what truly mattered to me.
Now I choose calmness and depth over constant exposure. I value slower forms of connection and meaningful dialogue. I enjoy observing rather than performing, allowing things to unfold without pressure. Stepping away from the demand to be constantly visible has brought my practice closer to its core.
What does support look like to you, and where do you find it?
AP: Support is what keeps me from feeling fragmented or alone. It’s a warm, quiet sense of being held, a feeling of love, acceptance, and safety that one person can offer another. Support allows me to stay whole.
I find it in my family, my friends, and in people who understand my artistic language. It’s less about validation and more about resonance, the feeling of being met where I am.
An intricate mask on display (image courtesy of the artist); The artist in the Black Horns mask photographed by Ecaterina Rusu
What values guide your choices when it comes to materials, methods, or collaboration?
AP: When choosing materials and methods, I follow what can most honestly express what I want to say. Often this comes from intuition, sudden attraction, or curiosity rather than a predetermined plan. I trust the body and attention to lead the process.
Collaboration is deeply intuitive for me. I look for shared values, a common language, and principles of nonviolence, care, and acceptance. It’s important that working together feels safe, respectful, and mutually nourishing.
What stays with you after the work is done?
AP: What stays with me is a sense of time that has been lived slowly and attentively. The rhythm of repetitive gestures, the memory of touch, the quiet focus that accumulates during the process. The object holds this time, but it also remains in my body.
After the work is finished, I often carry a feeling of calm and groundedness, as if the ritual continues beyond the object itself. There is also a subtle openness, a readiness to listen, to observe, and to move gently into whatever comes next.
KRISTIANE KEGELMANN
"I know so many women and FLINTA* people whose drive, openness, and reflective way of working deeply encourage me."
Photography by Pujan Shakupa
Kristiane Kegelmann is a Berlin-based visual artist and restaurant owner. After several years in pâtisserie, she turned to the visual arts in 2014, developing a practice shaped by material exploration, process and human interaction. With pars pralines, she introduced sculptural chocolates, linking her artistic thinking to Berlin’s culinary scene. In 2022, she opened her Michelin-starred restaurant pars in Charlottenburg, which she regards as an extension of her artistic practice – a place where form, material and process become tangible.
What feels important in your work today – and what has shifted since you first started out?
Kristiane Kegelmann: It feels like my work is constantly shifting. Life is a process, and each decision leads to a new experience. I started out not knowing myself very well. Working in the labour-intensive field of patisserie grounded me after a somewhat destructive youth.
After a few years, it became clear that this purpose had been fulfilled – but what I gained from that time was my love for food and the understanding that food is always political. It was evident that engaging with the topic of food would remain part of my life. At the same time, I sensed another kind of eagerness within me – a desire to explore my longing for an abstract yet physical engagement with materiality, values, and the spaces in between. In my artistic practice, I was able to delve into this urge.
With pars, my restaurant, I try to merge these approaches of mine with the priorities of the people I work with. Together as a team, we’re creating something unique – something that moves me deeply. Maybe that’s the answer... Working in a team, developing something collectively, feels very different from working alone.
The coveted sculptural chocolates, pars pralinen; the artist at her restaurant pars in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Photography by Florian Reimann
Has being a woman influenced the way you approach your work, or how it’s perceived?
KK: 100%. I notice it everywhere – both privately and professionally – how patriarchal, even misogynistic, structures are still rooted in our systems. There are countless examples. It starts with insecurities and how we deal with them, how people perceive or question things differently depending on whether a woman or a man is speaking – and, how I, as a female boss, approach situations in very different ways.
On a lighter note, I know so many women and FLINTA* people whose drive, openness, and reflective way of working deeply encourage me. I feel a strong sense of solidarity and connection with these amazing, self-reliant FLINTA* individuals – and that means so much to me.
Are there expectations placed on you that you’ve consciously chosen to step away from?
KK: Definitely. I can only do what feels right – when it aligns with my values and ideas. I might seem a bit stubborn at times, but I believe that’s what helps me stay true to my own narrative and, in a way, to the identity of my work.
I can tell you, from a business perspective, there have been many expectations placed on me. And yes, maybe my decisions aren’t always about profit. But they are grounded in something more honest – something that makes my practice, my work, and in pars’ case, this beautiful space that it is. It’s a balancing act – making it work financially while staying true to your ethics, being fair, paying people properly, and so on.
What does support look like to you, and where do you find it?
KK: Support means honest exchange. I also expect the people close to me to be open, critical, and share their true thoughts. I’m lucky to have wonderful people around me who’s opinions I take seriously, yet they still respect my ability to make my own decisions. I know that no matter what happens, I can always rely on them.
What values guide your choices when it comes to materials, methods or collaboration?
KK: There are many ways to approach collaborations and shared projects. With pars, I want to maintain an open space that not only hosts gastronomic events but also welcomes cultural, intellectual, political, and sensual experiences. Sometimes we organize dinners with inspiring restaurateurs—occasions where shared values around ingredients, sourcing, and a respectful working environment play an important role, as well as creating room for new ideas and exchange.
When we host events connected to other areas, they might focus on showing solidarity, building knowledge, or offering cultural and culinary experiences that are more accessible – inviting a younger and less privileged audience who still share our core values. pars is a place to explore possibilities. We also collaborate with artists, and I love seeing experimental dinners come to life here.
"Pars is a place to explore possibilities. We also collaborate with artists, and I love seeing experimental dinners come to life here."
Photography by Luis Bompastor
What stays with you after the work is done?
KK: The work is never done (laughs). But what remains constant in every situation is my gratitude to all the people who work here and make this place what it is. There is a sense of pride I could never feel to this degree for my personal work that I feel so clearly in what we create together as a team.
EVA CHE
Private chef and founder of CheHub wears ML11 in Leica Light Champagne Gold. Photography by Ecaterina Rusu
Eva Che moves between Prague and Berlin, bringing her practice wherever the kitchen happens to be. A private chef with Chinese roots, she was raised and trained in the Czech Republic by her father, himself a chef. She is known for precise knife skills, expressive presentation and a deeply considered approach to the dining experience. Combining a lifelong interest in aesthetics with an instinctive love of cooking, she founded CheHub, her personal culinary concept. In 2024, she was named to the 30 Under 30 list by Forbes and selected by Makro Academy as one of the 25 most influential chefs in the Czech culinary scene.
What feels important in your work today – and what has shifted since you first started out?
Eva Che: The time – not the time spent preparing the whole event, but the time before and after. The time when you can think creatively and in a calm mood – the moment when your brain is chill. This is when you can discover new ideas for other jobs in the future. Cooking is about exploring, even if you are not cooking anything exactly new, the presentation always needs take it to the next level. Especially when you are cooking for loyal clients, I am constantly trying to make it ‘unknown’ for them – a new experience every time.
Has being a woman influenced the way you approach your work, or how it’s perceived?
EC: I don’t think so, I’m serving food. For me, it really doesn’t matter what gender the chef is.
"My boyfriend has supported me from the start." – Eva Che wears BEAR from MYKITA | 032c, photographed by Ecaterina Rusu.
Are there expectations placed on you that you’ve consciously chosen step away from?
EC: Yes – when I stepped away from working in retail. I told one of my colleagues that I will start cooking and one of the reasons behind that decision was to have more freedom, she smiled and gave me a sarcastic, “Good luck!” Honestly, I did think I would have more time for my personal life, which wasn’t quite the case, but I realised that if you are passionate about what you do – working becomes one of the most enjoyable parts of your life.
With my work, if one person comes to tell me that they like my food, I forget that I had to wake up early that morning and am immediately emotionally rewarded. After a long time of being fortunate enough to receive these thanks and emotions on a regular basis, I forgot to be so concerned with my leisure time because, honestly, thinking about my work is not ‘work’ to me.
What does support look like to you, and where do you find it?
EC: In my boyfriend – there are few decisions I make in my life without asking his opinion – and he has supported me from the very start.
"If you are passionate about what you do, working becomes one of the most enjoyable parts of your life."
Right image courtesy of Tourist Productions
What values guide your choices when it comes to materials, methods or collaboration?
EC: Everything matters – who it’s for, what’s it about, do I have the choice to do it my own way? And what does my team get for supporting me, because I can’t do everything by myself, obviously.
What stays with you after the work is done?
EC: The vibe and satisfaction – and then, when the work is done – I always go and have a drink … with an extra shot!
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Big thank you to all our contributors for sharing your time and perspective!