In The Wild: Chromjuwelen Motor Öl

The other day we made our debut with our Chromjuwelen Motor Öl. In the wild, at the Oldtimer Park Hamburg. We are still thrilled, to be honest. It is a huge difference to see a ton of your products at one place, after you played around for a long time with a handful of home-made dummies. Wow.

As well we were priviledged to shoot some campaign images at the Prototyp Museum Hamburg, where the "Fetzenflieger" lives — Otto Mathé's famous racecar we are showing on our label. As I wrote before – if you will ever be in Hamburg, make sure to pay the museum a visit. It is gorgeous. And — btw —the Prototyp Museum sells Chromjuwelen Motor Öl ...

I would like to thank some people: 

At the moment we are working hard on shipping the Chromjuwelen Motor Öl to our stockists and finishing our "Online Store". Tragically one thing turned out to be more tricky than we thought: shipping the oil to the States. The freight charges kill us. So — if somebody reads this who wants to act as an distributor — please shoot us an email!

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Chromjuwelen Motor Öl: Ready To Ship

Finally. We just launched an online store – which means Chromjuwelen Motor Öl is ready to ship.

At chromjuwelen-oel.com you will be able to order our products via a fulfillment partner next to you. At the moment we are looking for a partner in the US – as we are getting overwhelmed with inquiries. If you have got an idea who might be a perfect partner for our Chromjuwelen Motor Öl – don't hesitate to shoot us an email!

@ the rest – what'cha waiting for!

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Chromjuwelen Électrique: Full Version & Bonus Videos

Not all that long ago we made a self-attempt: we eBay-ed a 1964 Imperial Crown and drove it from Los Angeles to Las Vegas – and back to Los Angeles. As you can imagine, we had a blast. You will find the video here. This time we switched to the other extreme: We travelled in a smart fortwo electric drive from Paris to Le Mans (Classic). Yup. Battery-driven. Of course – we know this electrified fellow isn't made for long distances. Even worse – we knew it will not be easy to find enough charging stations. But hey, that exactly was the challenge. If anybody of us speaks fluent French? Er ... no.

My favorite scene? Arthur's tribute to Stephen Brooks and all the dubstep video jockeys at 09:38.

Chromjuwelen Électrique features:

Music:

  • Edvard Grieg

  • "Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 - I. Morning" (performed by Musopen Symphony Orchestra)

  • musopen.org

All filming & editing: Faust & Heisler. For a full (German) Travelogue visit chromjuwelen.com.

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Chromjuwelen Motor Öl: THANK YOU!

It seems we did something properly – as we are getting such a tremendous feedback. We are turning as red as a beet and would like to say THANK YOU to everybody who is supporting us!

I am sure there is more on it's way — I will update this article regularly.

A special THANK YOU goes to Oliver Schmidt and Thomas König, as they are not only supporting us with Otto Mathé's "Fetzenflieger" for our packaging, but also opening their awesome Prototyp Museum Hamburg for our shootings. If you ever come to Germany — make sure you will visit their beautiful museum!

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X-RAY MAGAZINE: Hamburg – City Of The Classics

The other day x-ray magazine ("fashion business intelligence") asked me if I would like to write an article about "Motorkultur in Hamburg". What a question — of course! This is not only a perfect opportunity to present Hamburg amongst the other featured cities Los Angeles and London, but a good way to thank all those people and places who inspire me every day.

If you ever were looking for a perfect Motorkultur travel guide regarding Hamburg, here it is: Hamburg – City of Classics (English; page 64-67), Hamburg – Die Stadt der Klassiker (German; page 64-67).

Featuring (in alpahbetical order): 

 In this regard I would especially like to thank two persons: Oliver Breitwieser for taking all photos, Sven Wiesner for slamming his Rostkäfer. And yeah, needless to say: I <3 Hamburg.

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Chromjuwelen Motor Öl: About The Background

Due to the tremendous feedback for the package design of our Chromjuwelen Motor Öl, I would like to get one thing straight: It was neither me nor my Chromjuwelen partner Chris who did the design. Ok, I am responsible for squeezing and advancing the idea, but all props regarding the package design go to Donkey. In person: Boris Frommen, Daniel Dondorp and Christian Kandel.

I know Boris for years now and he is doing an amazing job with his agency. But if you visit Donkey's website, you will soon figure out that Donkey's core competence is not exactly … er ... automotive based. It is much more the fashion- and fragrancies-business they are in. But it has been a ongoing complaining from Boris (who is racing Porsche and Ferrari, btw) on a high level that he would love to do something auto-related one day.

When I told Boris about our cooperation with Mathy he was immediately hooked and brought Daniel Dondorp and Christian Kandel into play. Daniel and Christian are both into classic cars as well, and they turned out to be the dream team we were looking for. I take my hat off to both of you, Daniel and Christian — you've created something sheer incredible!

Granted. It took us over a year to bring our first first product, Chromjuwelen Motor Öl (yes, written with "Ö"!), to shape. Of course, we know the needs of the market and our audience – but at the end of the day Chris and I are just two buffoons who are bringing on some geeky automotive interwebs pollution. But in this regard we see ourselves to be our prototype clients: not savvy in engineering — but in search of products who fit to our passion: classic and modified cars. To keep it short: our intention was to create a product which we would buy.

When we thought for the first time about "Chromjuwelen Products" (yeop, there are some more on their way — stay tuned!) it was indisputable for us we can't do that on our own. But with Mathy and Donkey we feel like we hit the jackpot. On the one hand Mathy, who is gutsy enough to realize our neurotic ideas, on the other hand Donkey, who is highly skilled to bring 'em to shape.

As well I would like to thank at this point all media representatives (AUTO BILD KLASSIK, and several journalists), garages, museums and technicians we had the honor to learn from. Guys, without your affirmation we wouldn't feel that secure, as we do today. 

Right now we are working on our Chromjuwelen Online Store (which we will launch end of August) that our products can be ordered worldwide. Btw — this was one of our biggest tasks: to get them shippable. Please don't hesitate to talk to us, if you would like to offer Chromjuwelen Motor Öl in your Vintage Furniture Store, in your Garage our in your Heritage Fashion Shop!

Oh, btw, just one last thing: We will debut September 1./2. at the Oldtimer Park Hamburg and the Hamburger Stadtpark Revival. Safe the date!

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Video, CHROMJUWELEN Ralf Becker Video, CHROMJUWELEN Ralf Becker

From 2006 to Present – All Chromjuwelen Videos (plus a previously unreleased one)

I know I had to do this one day. I kicked it all too long down the road and it has been sitting for too long on my to-do list. But today was the day – I could not stand my unprofessionally way any longer sending people who are interested in our videos and how we act in front of a camera a bunch of loose links via email. 

The problem was not the Sisyphean task to collect all of our Chromjuwelen videos, which are living scattered throughout several video platforms and accounts. To be honest. The reason was much more: Some of our older video are really … er … AWKWARD. I am talking of that kind of videos you rather try to forget. Like this one: "Power Big Meet Västerås 2006". Yeop, that dumpling you can see in the video ... it's me. Sweet.

Anyway. I would like to use this opportunity once again to thank everybody who supported us since the beginning with their time and their video knowledge: Axel Bienert, Tatjana Böcher, Carsten Brix, Tobias Faust, Boris Heimberger, Arthur Heisler, Icke & Er, Kris Karathomas, Dean Malay, Jürgen Pander, Dennis Petermann, P.Y.P. Film, Olli (Redomedia), Christian SuhrSven Wiesner, Jan Wigger, Henning Windelband.

So, taking a deep breathe – here we go, follow this link!

Oh wait. While we are on it. We upped a video which has been previously unreleased – our coverage form the Flashman Rallye 2011. Enjoy!

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Chromjuwelen Électrique: Are Friends Electric?

Not all that long ago we made a self-attempt: we eBay-ed a 1964 Imperial Crown and drove it from Los Angeles to Las Vegas – and back to Los Angeles. As you can imagine, we had a blast.

Now it is time for another self-attempt. But this time we will change to the other extreme: We will travel in a smart fortwo electric drive from Paris to Le Mans (Classic). Yup. Battery-driven.

Of course – we know this electrified fellow isn't made for long distances. Even worse – we know it will not be easy to find enough charging stations. But hey, that exactly is the challenge.

Our aim is to shoot another "Chromjuwelen En Route" video. This is why we are accompanied by our friends faust & heisler. If anybody of us speaks fluent French? Er ... no.

Our first appointments will be with our French soulmates from the Blenheim Gang – since we are in France, we have to learn more about "Français Moteur Culture". And if you do not follow the Blenheim Gang yet – do it now.

Btw, "follow" – stay in contact with us via Twitter, Instagram (Chromjuwelen), Tumblr or the time-waster social network!

(Image borrowed from Mercedes-Fans.de)

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Design & Art, Video, CHROMJUWELEN Ralf Becker Design & Art, Video, CHROMJUWELEN Ralf Becker

Faust & Heisler: Herr Fischer bittet zu Tisch

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For more then two years photographer Jo Fischer is touring Germany with his project "Herr Fischer bittet zu Tisch". He invites people to take a seat at his table, arranging characteristic pictures of people within seconds - and with one shot only. Already more than 1.800 guests sat at the always same wooden table in front of plain backcloth. Since the beginning, the setting (table & background) has been arranged in more than 20 cities in Germany and Switzerland. This project is an ongoing process, and is planned to visit many other places and possibly countries in the future. From housewifes to kids, rockers & burlesque dancers, blue- or white-collar workers: Everybody is invited to bring their own personality to the table. The results are a a cross section through society as portraits in black & white. On April 28, 2012 "Herr Fischer bittet zu Tisch" was arranged at the Hamburger Deichtorhallen as part of the "Lange Nacht der Museen" ("Night of the Museums"), and while thousands of people visited this event, between 8 p.m. and midnight over 150 of them took the opportunity and sat down at Jo's table, getting their photo taken - and taking a printout with them right away. faust&heisler accompanied Jo the whole day long, documenting a busy and crazy day in the life of "Herr Fischer bittet zu Tisch". http://www.jofischer.com http://www.heliumcowboy.com Music by szdl "batteries", "glass" taken from the slow EP http://soundcloud.com/szdl

Jo Fischer // Photographer and Rock´n Roller! He invited us to sit at his table for his project "Herr Fischer bittet zu Tisch" We couldn´t resist to follow the invitation and make a film about this event which is about to come soon. While shooting he showed his true rock´n rollers soul and sang this song for us which we just have to share with you. http://jofischer.com/herr-fischer-bittet-zu-tisch http://heliumcowboy.squarespace.com/

It is a major honor for me to have friends like Jo Fischer, Jörg Heikhaus, Arthur Heisler and Tobias Faust. Guys, I am not sure you really know how much your work inspires me. Mr. Heisler, Mr. Faust: Awesome video portrait – can't wait to work a lot more with you. Mr. Fischer: Get yourself some kneepads. 

Please visit their websites as well: jofischer.com, heliumcowboy.com, vimeo.com/faustheisler.

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