Crossing Paths Again

By Jessica Rath
​​
What are the odds that two people who were born and grew up in Germany and who ran into each other a few times in Munich during the late 60’s counterculture movement would meet some thirty years later in a tiny village in Northern New Mexico? Pretty slim, wouldn’t you say. And yet, that’s exactly what happened to me and Renata Zimmermann.

Renata in Sag Harbor with her bicycle. Image credit: Renata Zimmermann

I had moved to Abiquiú from Berkeley/California in the fall of 2000, and when I got to know my neighbors a little, everybody asked: “Have you met Renata yet? She knits these amazing sweaters. And she is from Germany, as you are!” Hmmm. I wasn’t really all that interested in meeting other Germans; I had left the country for good in 1973 with no intention to ever move back.  But when I was finally introduced to her – a kind neighbor had invited me to a Thanksgiving Party – both of us were thunderstruck. We had actually met in Munich! We knew many of the same people! Since then we’ve become good friends and I learned enough about Renata’s life to decide to write about her adventures.
 
She was born and grew up in Bavaria, Germany’s most southern state. She trained to be a dressmaker and moved to Munich, the hub for intellectuals, radicals, and artists. It so happened that a German avant garde filmmaker, Michael Verhoeven, made a movie in the flat below the one where she lived, which started her career as a wardrobe and costume maker. She worked for and with people who later became famous, such as Wim Wenders, Mel Ferrer, and Dennis Hopper.
 
I also knew Wim Wenders at that time, not so much because of his movies (he was a student at the Munich Film School), but because he was part of the political anti-establishment, anti-Vietnam war movement, as I was. We were all hanging out in the same coffee shops and pubs in Schwabing, Munich’s famous bohemian district frequented by artists and students ever since the 1900s. I left Munich at the end of 1970 and never heard of or saw Renanta again until we met in Abiquiú, just about 30 years later.  

Still from the movie “Die Sweethearts”. Renata is second from right.

​That’s when I learned that she not only made costumes, but also starred in some movies: “The Sweethearts” for example, about four girls who like to sing and then start a band. The director was Klaus Lemke, and it opened in 1977. Renate told me that the band really existed, and they performed in Frankfurt and other cities – just for fun! “They don’t sing beautifully, but are successful” states a newspaper critic. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has several entries about Renata: as actress, costume designer, and wardrobe maker.

Newspaper write-up of “Sweethearts”.

​But at some point she had enough of all this. When did she leave Munich and Germany, and why? I recently gave her a call to find out more.
 
“Everything exciting seemed to come from the United States at that time”, Renata told me. “I loved Bob Dylan’s songs, I met Dennis Hopper, but I never learned English at school and couldn’t understand anything. I wanted to understand Dylan’s lyrics!  As long as I can remember, I was impressed with American culture; I longed to get to know it better.” What a unique motivation!
 
“I left Munich in 1981”, she went on.  She had to vacate the flat where she lived because the owners needed it for themselves, and the Munich housing market was always difficult, even then. So she decided to visit a friend in New York City, a German journalist who had relocated to the United States a year earlier.  Renata used the time there to research whether she could find a place to live and support herself, and once that was settled she returned to Munich and sold everything she owned, except for her records, a feather bed, and her books.  Then she left Germany to live in the United States, unfamiliar with the language, without a safety net. That’s quite courageous, don’t you agree?
 
For about one and a half years she rented a room with a woman in Uptown New York. That’s when she started knitting: she bought a knitting machine, taught herself how to use it, came up with unique designs, and sold her creations. 

Renata’s shop in Sag Harbor. Image credit: Renata Zimmermann.

“I met this Danish woman who had just opened a store for knitted items in Sag Harbor on Long Island. I went to the opening reception, and I liked it there so much that I decided to move to the Hamptons.” And a little later she had her own store which she called “ZIRE” – for Renata Zimmermann. 

Inside of Zire. Image credit: Renata Zimmermann

​A few years later the Hamptons became ever more popular as a getaway for people from New York City. Movie celebrities and other rich and famous folk bought summer residences along the Atlantic Ocean beaches. Rents skyrocketed, and Renata was looking for a more affordable site. A friend told her about Santa Fe – how stunningly beautiful it is there. And it would be perfect for her knitwear; the city was known for high-quality art and attracted a steady flow of tourists. After her second visit she decided to move to Santa Fe – that was in 1986.
 
With a streak of luck, she was able to rent the Gustave Baumann  house on the east side of town. It was within  walking distance to the Plaza – that was important, because Renata didn’t have a car yet. She went everywhere by bicycle. Several stores and galleries carried her work, and everything went well for a year.
 
When her landlady took her along to participate in a section of the Hands Across America event (planned to raise awareness and money for homeless and poor Americans) along Interstate 40, she met many of the people she’s still friends with today, including her future boyfriend who lived in Medanales. In 1987 she moved in with him. A bicycle wasn’t sufficient any more, and she learned how to drive a car and got a driver’s license. 

Renata in her first car. Image credit Renata Zimmermann

​In 1992 some land was for sale further up on the mesa, and Renate bought some property – for $1,500/acre. Soon after she started to build her house; it took six or seven months to finish. 

Newspaper article about Renata’s life in New Mexico.

​And that’s where she still lives. After many moves she found her ideal place, the one she loves. The pristine, natural setting all around her has inspired her creations which easily found buyers. For many years, Renata drove to art fairs all over the country – from California to Florida and almost every state in between. And she is part of the Abiquiú Studio Tour, she joined just a few years after it started.
 
Nowadays she doesn’t drive to art fairs any more, but she sells her wearable art at several stores and galleries in northern New Mexico, and she still participates in a few studio tours. I think if one would ask her how to become a successful entrepreneur she’d say “Find out what you love to do, and then DO it”. Sound advice, especially if one is gifted with talents for creative design and for matching colors and patterns in a unique way, as she is.