The little BÄRblinger

Amidst the production of the limited Berblinger sculpture and the process of creating unique pieces, ideas continued to flow – and one particularly beautiful idea took shape: the BÄRblinger – a small hero for children.

I would find it a shame if not every child in Ulm knew Berblinger – and even less the depth of his story, the boldness of his dreams, and the tragedy that gained its own momentum after the crash. In a playful way, I wanted to bring this visionary back to life – child-friendly, lovingly, and without a wagging finger, but with all the magic this story deserves, and above all, with the message hidden behind Berblinger's tragedy.

That's how I came up with the idea of creating the BÄRblinger – cute and child-friendly, based on the wordplay Berblinger / BÄRblinger: the little bear who wanted to fly….. 

And because children can never have enough heroes, a Papa-Bärblinger was also created. My own children have now flown the nest, but they will always remain under their dad's protection – and that's exactly what I wanted to express with the sculpture.
Thus, the little BÄRblinger symbolically finds the support that his great namesake Berblinger so sorely missed during his lifetime: protection, closeness, and security. BÄRblinger should remind us that we should do better today - to be there for each other, just as we would have wished for Berblinger back then.