Wilhelm Bartelmann

Wilhelm Bartelmann 1906

Memorial plaque on the house at Am Leuchtturm 10, in Warnemünde

Wilhelm Bartelmann (born October 7, 1845 in Bergedorf ; † July 25, 1930 in Rostock , full name Ludolph Wilhelm Eduard Bartelmann ) was a German basket maker and is considered the inventor of the beach chair .

biography

Wilhelm Bartelmann came from a Lübeck basket maker family, learned his father's trade and opened a workshop in Rostock at the age of 25. Here he was appointed grand ducal Mecklenburg-Schwerin court basket maker. In 1882, Elfriede Maltzahn from Rostock, suffering from rheumatism, asked his workshop for "seating for the beach as protection from sun and wind", which inspired Wilhelm Bartelmann to manufacture a "beach chair" made from wicker and cane. The beach chair caused a stir among the other bathers, who also wanted to sit comfortably on the beach. The demand for the new type of furniture skyrocketed. If the prototype was a single-seater, the following year Bartelmann developed a model for two people, which was later called the beach chair. In the summer of 1883, Bartelmann's wife Elisabeth opened the first beach chair rental near the Warnemünder lighthouse . The family expanded the business and set up branches in several places in Mecklenburg . The affiliated branch in Kühlungsborn has been run in a family tradition for over 100 years.

Bartelmann rejected industrial production of his invention, as did the patent application for the beach chair. He saw himself as a craftsman who soon equipped his beach chairs with details such as awnings, footrests, armrests and side tables. Journeyman such as Franz Schaft and Johann Falck, who had learned from Bartelmann, founded factories at the beginning of the 20th century that supplied the entire Baltic region with beach chairs. In the 1920s the beach chair conquered the beaches of the North and Baltic Seas in large numbers. Today beach chairs can be found in all parts of the world.

literature

Wilhelm Bartelmann in: Matthes, Olaf and Metzger, Bardo (ed.): Bergedorfer Personenlexikon . Hamburg, 2003, pp. 20f. ISBN 3-935987-03-X
MERIAN Baltic Sea coast from Flensburg to Lübeck, p. 141, issue 3 March 1979 / C 4701 EX <

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Bartelmann - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Proven as title holder and court craftsman: Grand Ducal Mecklenburg-Schwerin State Calendar 1896, p. 40: "Hof-Korbmacher: Wilhelm Bartelmann zu Rostock" (among others).

personal data
SURNAME	Bartelmann, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Bartelmann, Ludolph Wilhelm Eduard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German basket maker and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH	October 7, 1845
PLACE OF BIRTH	Bergedorf
DATE OF DEATH	July 25, 1930
Place of death	Rostock

[1] Proven as title holder and court craftsman: Grand Ducal Mecklenburg-Schwerin State Calendar 1896, p. 40: "Hof-Korbmacher: Wilhelm Bartelmann zu Rostock" (among others).