Rheda-Wiedenbrück has been hit again. Lübke GmbH, the company behind the design furniture brand Interlübke, filed for insolvency on Monday. It is not the first time — back in 2012, the company already had to face the insolvency judge once. This time, the Bielefeld District Court has appointed Yorck Streitbörger of the eponymous Bielefeld law firm as provisional insolvency administrator.
The twist: things were actually looking quite decent recently. Brothers Frank and Ralf Oehmke had taken over the tradition-rich house from mattress maker Schramm in 2022 and systematically restructured it ever since. Machinery renewed, production processes streamlined, marketing professionalised, digitalisation — the full programme. Losses melted year by year. 2026 was finally meant to deliver black numbers.
What happened next has, at first glance, little to do with furniture: the Iran war. Sounds like a steep thesis — but it is not entirely off the mark. The plant in Rheda-Wiedenbrück is, as it happens, still heated with oil. And precisely there, where heating costs have exploded in recent weeks, Interlübke has apparently been hit with full force. Add to that price hikes from hauliers, timber and lacquer suppliers, plus a consumer base that, faced with rising fuel prices, simply stops spending. Designer sofas least of all.