This week, we want to introduce you to up-and-coming model Tim Grupp (Viva Models)— a Zigerli mainstay with an All-American charm. We met up with Tim at Schwarze Café in Charlottenburg, where we chatted about football and fashion. Having grown up in New York, Tim is now living it up in Berlin in between campaigns for Frisur and editorials in Sleek, Indie and Fucking Young!.
Photographed by Filiz Serinyel
You have quite a transient background, growing up in Salzburg and New York. How did you end up in Berlin, and what’s the different between the cities?
I moved around so much because my mum worked for quite some time as a model internationally and my dad is a photographer. He worked as an assistant for Patrick Demarchelier for about 10 years. I was born in Ulm in southern Germany then I moved to New York City right away
and lived there for about 6 years. After that, we moved to Potsdam and after 10th grade I somehow quit school and, because I always loved Austria, I went there. So I went to Salzburg to work as a Fitness trainer. I loved the country, but after a year I wanted to come back to Berlin. Here, I started to go to Fitness school, which is actually ending in two months, to become a personal Trainer. I’m really happy in Berlin, but I can also see myself moving to Vienna. I love the city…or maybe Los Angeles. I’m open for everything actually.
Do you play American football?
I played American Football for about five years and I also played lacrosse for some time. I skateboarded, wake-boarded, played basketball and I even played on a pingpong team…so pretty much everything.
1. Taken from Superior Magazine 2. Photographed by Niklas Heikkinen
You played American football with the big boys. How do you combine the world of football with the world of fashion?
It was pretty difficult at first because I was really into football and not so much into fashion, when I first got into modeling. It was weird shit, like, what do they want from me, trying all these different clothes with funny colors, asking myself, “why are these people taking photos of me.” But, I got used to it pretty fast. At the beginning, the big boys, as you call them, made fun of me, like, “watch out don’t break his arm he’s a model. Be careful with his face. Don’t hit him to hard!” So now these are my two worlds and I’m not ashamed of them. After a while, I didn’t care what they thought. They knew what to think of me on the football field and that was all that mattered.
If you’re not getting your face full of dirt playing American football which products do you use?
(Laughs). I switch around a lot because all the different hair and make-up artists that I meet tell me to use different products. I’d say, for my hair I use Claudia Schiffer Hair Repair (laughs). It’s actually a woman’s shampoo, but I once used it when nothing else was in the shower and my hair turned out to be super soft and I liked it. Actually all my friends made fun of me till they touched my super soft hair. Now they started using it too. I wash my face with this normal wash cream every morning.
Your Berlin hotspots?
Definitely Monkey Bar. I love the location and it’s always the place I end up with when I don’t know where to go. You have a great view, from there one can see the Waldorf Astoria, which is pretty much my favorite building in Berlin, maybe because it reminds me a bit of New York. Also I love to go to Schmitz on Torstraße. It’s a Bar where you can play darts, tischfußball and ping pong.
Photographed by Filiz Serinyel
Who inspires you?
McLovin from the Superbad Movie (laughts)! No, as a role model I’d go with my dad, actually, because I look up to him. He makes the most out of everything and doesn’t need a lot to be happy, which I definitely think is amazing. He lives in Austria, so I don’t see him that much.
Your favorite show and/or photo shoot up till now?
For runway shows, I would go with Julian Zigerli because he always has amazing new ideas for shows. I really like how every show is different and people are coming up to him and asking, “So what is it going to be this year?” In terms of shooting, I love the New Yorker team. They always send positive vibes; I love that about them. Also, they have an amazing cafeteria with great food so that’s a plus point!
Batman, Superman or Ironman?
Spiderman!! Definitely.
Photographed by Marlen Stahlhuth at the Julian Zigerli A/W 13/14 presentation.
Editorial for Frisur by Marlen Müller
