Strandkorb

{{Short description|Hooded windbreak seating furniture for beaches}} {{refimprove|date=March 2018}}

A '''''Strandkorb''''' (from German, lit. meaning: 'beach basket'; Danish: ''strandkurv''; English: 'hooded beach chair') is a special hooded windbreak [[chair|seating]] [[furniture]] used at [[vacation]] and [[seaside resort]]s, constructed from [[wicker]], [[wood]] panels and [[canvas]], usually seating up to two people, with reclining backrests. It was designed to provide comfort seating and shelter from [[wind]], [[rain]], [[sand]] gusts and [[sunburn]] on [[beach]] seafront resorts frequented by tourists. Other built-in details, like extendable footrests, sun [[awning]], side [[folding table]]s and storage space, provide the user with several comforts.

''Strandkörbe'' are found at nearly all beach seafront resorts of the [[North Sea]] and [[Baltic Sea]] in [[Lower Saxony]], [[Schleswig-Holstein]] and [[Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]], as well as other beach seafronts where sudden fluctuations in adverse weather conditions and wind gusts can prevail. The ''Strandkorb'' beach-chair is considered a [[Cult (religious practice)|cult]] object of [[Germany|German]] ''[[Gemütlichkeit]]'', which has survived two world wars, social and industrial revolutions and the East-West divide of Germany. From spring to autumn, they can usually be [[rented]] from beach-chair wardens (German ''Strandkorbwärter''). Two different shapes can be distinguished, the straight angular North Sea variety and the round rolling Baltic Sea variety.

==Origin== The "''Strandkorb''" beach-chair was invented in 1882 by German [[Basket weaving|basket maker]] '''Wilhelm Bartelmann''' in [[Rostock]], originally for his customer Elfriede Maltzahn, who suffered from [[rheumatism]] and had requested in his workshop a "seating accommodation for the beach that would provide shelter from the sun and wind". Bartelmann's family were basket makers from [[Lübeck]]. At age 25, Wilhelm opened his own basket weaving workshop in Rostock, where he also became court appointed basket-maker to the [[Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin|Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin]]. Bartelmann's "beach-chair" caused such great sensation among other beach-visitors, who also wanted to sit comfortably at the beach, that demand for his "''Strandkorb''" soared. In 1883, Bartelmann's wife Elisabeth opened the first "''Strandkorb''" [[rental]] service near [[Warnemünde Lighthouse]] in [[Warnemünde]]. The first models were ''single seaters'' and appeared quickly on other parts of the German coast; a year later Bartelmann also developed a two-seat version. Since about 1910, the two-seat ''Strandkorb'' has become the standard, changing little in design and construction.

[[Thomas Mann]] refers to ''Strandkorbs'' (using the words ''Strandkorb'' and ''Sitzkorb'') in his 1901 novel [[Buddenbrooks]], [[anachronism|anachronistically]] setting the context in the 1840s on the beach at [[Travemünde]].

==History== The manufacture of wicker-armchair furniture with covered high-rising hoods have been known and handed down in the European [[Basket weaving|basket makers]] craft-work since the late 16th-century. The furniture was used mainly for large cold rooms and draughty indoor settings. Its use is known in both town and farm houses in the Netherlands and Germany, in the 18th-century such seating furniture were also found in palaces in England, Scotland and Ireland.

==Special designs== [[File:Teilnehmer G8 2007.jpg|thumb|left|Specifically manufactured ''Strandkorb'' at the [[33rd G8 summit|2007 G8 summit]] in [[Heiligendamm]], Mecklenburg]]

When the [[33rd G8 summit|2007 G8 summit]] in [[Heiligendamm]] met in June 2007, the Marketing Department of the State of [[Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]] provided a special beach chair manufactured specifically for the leaders of the eight participating states and the President of the European Commission to use for a final photo. These photographs taken on June 8, 2007 have gained some international notoriety. The beach chair is a good two meters high and almost six meters long. It was produced by the traditional ''Korb [[GmbH]]'' of Heringsdorf on the Baltic island of [[Usedom]]. All employees of the company were involved in the production of the chair, which lasted three weeks. It needed two kilometres of interlace, a cubic meter of timber, sourced from domestic pine, and 35 square meters blue and white cloth.<ref name="Die Zeit">{{cite web |url=https://www.zeit.de/online/2007/49/rueckblick-strandkorb |title= ''Wie ging es weiter für ...... den Hersteller des G8-Strandkorbs?'' |publisher=[[Die Zeit]] |date=December 7, 2007 |accessdate=June 9, 2014}}</ref> The sun awning was printed with the respective country flags.

After the event the beach chair was transported to different locations over some months as an item of interest for tourists and locals. Among other things, it was displayed in Berlin in front of the Chancellor's Office, at the Brandenburg Gate, and the day of German unity on October 3, 2007 in Schwerin. In November 2007 the beach chair was auctioned off in aid of the charity ''Ein Herz für Kinder'' ('A heart for children'). The founder of the ''Deutsche Vermögensberatung AG'' (DVAG), Reinfried Pohl, purchased it for the price of one million Euro. Since 2008 it is used for further fund-raising.<ref name="ndr">{{cite web |url=http://www.ndr.de/regional/g8/strandkorbxxl2.html |title=''Ein Korb für die Mächtigen der Welt'' |publisher=[[Norddeutscher Rundfunk|NDR]] |date=May 23, 2007 | accessdate=November 28, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010030434/http://www1.ndr.de/nachrichten/g8/strandkorbxxl2.html | archive-date=2007-10-10}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == {{Commons category| Strandkorbs}} * [http://www.sylt-strandkoerbe.de Official website of ''Sylt-Strandkörbe GmbH'' on Sylt in Germany (English version available)] * [http://www.korbgmbh.de Official website of ''Korb GmbH'' in Germany (English version available)] * [http://www.belgarden-strandkorb.de Official website of Belgarden ''Strandkorb'' Manufaktur in Germany (English version available)]

{{Authority control}} [[Category:Chairs]] [[Category:German inventions]] [[Category:1882 introductions]] [[Category:1882 establishments in Germany]]