Bulthaup

Bulthaup GmbH & Co. KG

Type	Kommanditgesellschaft
Founded	1949
Founder	Martin Bulthaup
Headquarters	Aich, Bodenkirchen, Germany
Key people	Marc O. Eckert: President & CEO
Products	Kitchen furniture and accessories
Revenue	120 million € (2012)
Number of employees	530 (2012)
Website	http://www.en.bulthaup.com

bulthaup (legally: Bulthaup GmbH & Co. KG) is a German kitchen manufacturer headquartered in Aich, Bodenkirchen, close to Landshut in Lower Bavaria. It has a headcount of 530, and records revenues of around 120 million euros – 80% of which is account for by exports.

Bulthaup kitchens are luxury products, with a particular emphasis on design.

In 1949, Martin Bulthaup, originally from the East Westphalia area of Germany, founded the company Martin Bulthaup Möbelfabrik (German for Martin Bulthaup furniture factory) in Bodenkirchen, close to Landshut. Two years later, in 1951, he began manufacturing kitchen furniture. His first product was a sideboard with hand-sewn curtains. In 1963, Martin Bulthaup built a factory in Bodenkirchen, followed by a further production facility in Neumarkt-Sankt Veit in 1966. At both sites, he introduced assembly lines.

In 1969, Bulthaup launched its Stil 75 product range. By the late 1960s, the company was one of the top five German kitchen manufacturers with a revenue of 100 million Deutsche Marks. From 1973 onwards, it began exporting its products to members of the then European Economic Community.

In 1974, Bulthaup introduced its Concept 12, or c12, model. It enabled flexible kitchen designs, based on a 12 x 12 cm grid.

Following Martin Bulthaup's death in 1978, his son Gerd Bulthaup took on the reins of the company. He built a new production facility in Aich, uniting various business departments and corporate functions. Gerd, in seeking to expand the business, came into contact with the designer Otl Aicher, whose design ideas were largely based on the principles of the Ulm School of Design which favours simplified forms and functionality.