New England High Back Beach Chair

New England High Beach Chair
Yess! Living in the Hague and near its beach resort Scheveningen sometimes makes me nostalgic. Wishing the Scheveningen high back beach chair back on the Scheveningen beaches. In the our category Beach Chair you’ll find some examples and some new designs that could replace the original ones. Thanks to Aubergine Color I’ve found evidence that a similar chair must have been en vogue in New England.

High Back Beach Chair with Sleeping Beauty

Scheveningen-Beach-Chair
Browsing in the Flickr Commons I found this High Back Beach Chair photo dating from 1917. The High Back Beach Chair was common in Scheveningen from around the 1850ies until the 1960ies. The inside is clearly lined with a nice warm blanket. So the photo was not taken in high summer.
In my post Kaigan for Ahrend you can find more about this model.

Dutch or Scheveningen Beach Chair by Marijn van der Poll: Kaigan for Ahrend

Dutch Beach Chair Kaigan by Marijn van der Poll
Huzzay! Dutch designer Marijn van der Poll has taken up my plea in a series of posts to revive the Scheveningen or Dutch Beach Chair:

  1. Postcard from Scheveningen, a Plea to Revive the Scheveningen Beach Chair.
  2. Possible to Revive the Scheveningen Beach Chair Design?
  3. High Back Beach Chair by Patricia Urquiola.
  4. Leather Button Upholstered Porters Chair at Bonhams.
  5. Showtime Highback by Jaime Hayon.
  6. The High Back Beach Chairs (Strandkorf or StrandKorb) of Bartelmann.
  7. Sardegna High Back Beach Chair by Borek.

Marijn designed the Kaigan for Dutch Office outfitter Ahrend. As yet it seems only feasable for indoor use, but I hope an outdoor version follows soon.

Sardegna High Back Beach Chair by Borek

And then I discover the Dutch chair manufacturer Borek who produces the Sardegna line with a high back beach chair that could replace the historic Scheveningen high back beach chair I was trying to revive wit a couple of blog posts here: -1-, here: -2- and here: -3- . Yay!

The High Back Beach Chairs (Strandkorf or StrandKorb) of Bartelmann

Strandkorb or High Beach Chair by Bartelmann

In an attempt to revive the Classic Scheveningen High Back Beach Chair I blogged about it here and on my significant other blog.

Despite the fact that Google apparently has ousted Chairblog from their indexes after the recent change of hosting company, the photos of the two blog posts still appear on page 1 of a Google photo search. There I discovered Wohn- & Geschäftshaus Bartelmann seit 1903 im Ostseebad Kühlungsborn They also appear as Bartelmann . Com. It appears that Bartelmann has a shop, a B&B and also is one of the oldest producers still in operation of the typical High Back Beach Chairs for the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The Baltic high back beach chair is more rounded and the North Sea one more angular. If you like the models like I do, I suggest you search Google images for Strandkorf or Strandkorb, which gives results that come near what I meant.

Back to Bartelmann

Wilhelm Bartelmann opened shop as a basket maker October 7, 1870. In 1882 lady Efriede von Maltzahn had asked him to create a beach chair that could protect against too much sun and too much wind. Sun bathing was “not done” in those days in higher circles.
Wilhelm created the first beach chair from willow and cane, mockingly called by some “Upright Laundry Basket”. From there on the business started to thrive. Mind you, after he had created chairs for a Ducal Palace he was allowed to call himself Basket Maker by Appointment.

Here you can see Wilhelm, his wife and 5 children in one of his cane and willow high back beach chairs.