Wilhelm Bartelmann (left) inventor of the Strandkorb beach chair.
wilhelm bartelmann, born 1845
inventor of the strandkorb beach chair
The "Strandkorb" beach-chair was invented in 1882 by German 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 Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Bartelmann’s Strandkorb beach chair proved hugely popular, and is still today a feature of the Baltic coast.