Overview
- A ZDF 'Inside CDU' scene showing Philipp Amthor with a Usedom-made strandkorb on the Bundeskanzleramt balcony in late September drew heavy social-media attention and public mockery.
- Korbwaren 1925 Usedom GmbH reports a roughly tenfold rise in website clicks that lasted about one week but yielded fewer than ten concrete purchase inquiries specifically asking for Amthor’s chair.
- The company says the online surge produced no measurable increase in sales for that model or overall production.
- A government spokesman confirmed Amthor bought the strandkorb privately and paid for delivery and assembly, and the chair was later installed as a private donation at the Fliederhof care facility in Ueckermünde.
- The maker, which faced insolvency in 2023 and was taken over and moved to Ückeritz in 2024, views the episode as positive publicity that raised public awareness of regional basketry despite the lack of immediate revenue.