When the company was founded in 1954, the Lübke entrepreneur family, their employees and later also the designers were already committed to manufacturing chairs, easy chairs and sofas which go beyond fulfilling their function as mere utility furniture. This laid the foundations for an unmistakable design which now has devotees throughout the world. The philosophy of the seating furniture manufacturer from Rheda-Wiedenbrück with products distributed around the globe is as universal as it is Westphalian and simple. Owners of seating furniture spend a large proportion of their lives with and above all on their possessions. It must not only support their posterior and back in comfort, but also be pleasing to the eye and, not least, give visitors an indication of their host's preferences. Seating culture is designed living culture, and COR (Latin for 'heart') participates in it actively – and has been doing so for the last sixty years.
Steadily stepping it up
QUINTA, the five-part upholstered furniture designed by Michael Bayer in 1959, was already intended as a modular suite. This system idea has determined the collections from the very beginning: In 1959, it was patented as a "stool converting into steps"; like many of the enduring COR models it remained in the programme for many years (until 1978). Concerning CONSETA, which came into being in 1964, may it suffice to say that this upholstered furniture is now one of the world's few sofa classics. The 1970s saw experiments with round shapes, modern synthetic materials and bold colours (ORBIS, POLYCOR, VARIO), with designers including Lugi Colani and the first designs from Peter Maly, e.g. TRINOM. The Swiss team form ag, who developed the endless wardrobe, created entire seating landscapes with the upholstered element programme TRIO. Solo models such as the cantilevered easy chair SCHWINGSESSEL (1968/today: SWING) or SINUS (1976, returning to the programme in 2004) embody the potential for contemporary and future-proof design, produced to the highest standards in a tradition of craftsmanship. Developments from the 1980s up to the turn of the millennium were influenced for the most part by Peter Maly – with geometrical forms that included circles (ZYKLUS, CIRCO, ZELDA, CITTA and many more). In the 21st century, amorphous shapes have followed: LAVA, the sitting-reclining lounge furniture by Studio Vertijet, incorporates the floor as a sitting and reclining surface. Today, the seating furniture collections are characterised on the one hand by classics such as CONSETA (Friedrich Wilhelm Möller) or QUANT (Alfred Kleene+Gabriele Assmann), and on the other by designs which integrate the surrounding architecture (JALIS) or interpret living as a lounge feeling: MELL/MELL LOUNGE. The three last mentioned were created by the Stuttgart designers Jehs+Laub.
Precepts, standards and the core idea
Even creatives like Markus Jehs and Jürgen Laub begin by sifting through the design archive: "Whether you like it or not, each new model stands in a tradition," says the 48-year-old industrial designer Jehs. "If we did not know the manufacturer's exact precepts and standards, or fully comprehend the company's inner values and culture, there would be no COR furniture." The two designers do not want to devote themselves to the purely decorative, but instead develop products which have a profound "rationale", aesthetics and function, to the very last stitch. This brings them to a "core idea from which everything develops": CUVERT (2007) is based on the geometry of an envelope, SHRIMP (easy chair, stool, chairs) has the indentations characteristic of the marine animal; JALIS embodies a folded cushion; the upholstered suite ELM created in 2014 has an external wooden frame. The exposed frame mirrors the otherwise customary approach to designing chairs, which are regarded as the supreme discipline. "We see it almost the other way round," Markus Jehs explains. Today it is more difficult to design innovative upholstered furniture as a sofa with elements: "It is no coincidence that so much of the upholstered furniture on the market looks more or less the same." The two internationally active industrial designers have overcome this hurdle, as they have now demonstrated for many years in the manufacture of seating furniture. With ELM in the anniversary year, they have transported one of the innermost COR values, the solid wood frame, to the outside for all to see.
About COR
The family business now owner-managed in the second generation was established in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Ostwestfalen on 17 December 1954. In 2013, 215 employees generated sales of 30.6 million euros with manually manufactured seating furniture which is distributed worldwide. The product portfolio embraces upholstered suites, individual easy chairs, tables and chairs, divans and sofa beds, as well as carpets. Renowned designers have shaped the design award-winning collections. These include Friedrich Wilhelm Möller, Peter Maly, Rolf Heide, Prof. Wulf Schneider, Studio Vertijet, Gabriele Assmann and Alfred Kleene, Gil Coste, Holger Janke, Jörg Boner, Jehs+Laub, Müller+Wulff, Karsten Weigel, Prof. Uwe Fischer, Murken+Hansen, Aurélien Barbry, Christoph Marchand and Kressel+Schelle.
For more information, please contact
COR Sitzmöbel Helmut Lübke GmbH & Co. KGBerthold Strüve, Marketing ManagerNonenstraße 12, 33378 Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germanyt +49.(0)5242.4102-240f +49.(0)5242.4102-940b.strueve@cor.de
For more information, please contact
COR Sitzmöbel Helmut Lübke GmbH & Co. KG
Berthold Strüve, Marketing Manager
Nonenstraße 12, 33378 Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany
t +49.(0)5242.4102-240
f +49.(0)5242.4102-940
b.strueve@cor.de
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