The traditional company behind the much-photographed XXL beach chair from the G8 summit in Heiligendamm in 2007 has filed for bankruptcy again. The Stralsund district court confirmed receipt of a corresponding application from the Heringsdorf beach chair manufacturer Korbwerk. The NDR had previously reported.
Germany’s oldest beach chair manufacturer, which is still in existence today, built a six-meter-long giant beach chair for the G8 summit in 2007, in which the then Chancellor Angela Merkel sat down together with the world’s powerful people – the picture went around the world. At that time, Russia was also part of the group of industrial nations – today, after Russia was excluded, the group is called the G7 instead of the G8. In Heiligendamm, Merkel sat down in a beach chair next to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to provisional insolvency administrator Jörg Sievers, the company currently employs 19 people. There are sales difficulties. Individual sales to tourists, for example, are an important pillar. However, customers are cautious in view of the widespread mood of crisis. “Those are the things you save on first,” Sievers said. Things have also been going rather badly for beach chair rental companies recently.
The beach chair builders caused a stir last year with a collaboration with the fashion designer Harald Glööckler. The Glööckler beach chair was supposed to cost 30,000 euros and be made to order – including gold fittings and fabrics embroidered with gold.
The company filed for bankruptcy in 2017, but was able to maintain operations thanks to an investor. The company had already filed for insolvency at the end of 2008, but was then restructured. According to the company’s own information, the beach chair manufacturer has existed since 1925.
