"Mr. Rattan" celebrates its anniversary
Kurt Schütz turns 60

On Saturday, April 27, Kurt Schütz (photo) celebrated his 60th birthday. Professionally, his great love was and is crafted wicker furniture, especially rattan. This is no coincidence, after all, this material accompanied him from childhood.

One year after his birth, Kurt Schütz sen., Father of the jubilee, founded the wickerworker Schütz in the Upper-Franconian "Korbstadt" Lichtenfels, which in the following years developed into one of the top brands in wicker and rattan furniture. However, the extremely labor-intensive manufacture of rattan furniture in the early 2000s led to economic problems at the production site in Lichtenfels and in 2006 finally to the bankruptcy and closure of the plant. However, Kurt Schütz continued to rely on the natural and sustainable material and continued production at his Cirebon plant in Cirebon, which opened in 2003, where he worked from the beginning to the same exacting standards as in his home in Upper Franconia. In October 2016, Kurt Schütz sold the plant to the Indonesian Vivere Group, for which he continues to be active in sales in Central Europe. Since 2017 the jubilarian runs a rattan studio in the center of Lichtenfels. In addition, Kurt Schütz has recently become involved in the "Let's be smart" project, in which he participated in the past imm cologne.