„Actually, it was a totally mad idea,“ explains Norbert Bretz about the decision in 1992 to save the company together with his brother Hartmut. Their father had asked them to do so, and they agreed, even although they had long since left Gensingen and had completely different careers with the prospect of well-paid jobs. However, they had both grown up with the furniture, the company and a sense of family and responsibility towards the region, whose main employer was Bretz. And, of course, ambition also played a major role, „we were just excited by the idea“.
Norbert and Hartmut Bretz took over as the fourth generation.
However, instead of producing furniture, with which the company had supplied mainstream customers with everything from kidney table styles to Gelsenkirchen baroque for decades, they quickly moved to sofas and armchairs, the soft contours and vibrant colours of which were somehow reminiscent of comic books and Keith Haring pop art.
„We just liked it,“ explains Norbert Bretz – and the so-called ‚New Economy‘ generation, which was making a lot of money online at the time, like it just as much. As more and more cheap copies started arriving from Eastern Europe, the brothers transformed the company into what it is today: a luxury brand that systematically pushes back the boundaries – ultra-big, ultra-bright, ultra-extravagant – and globally successful and distinctive. A total of around 90 people once again work in Gensingen and, in addition to shop-in-shop concessions, the company also has 6 own stores and 9 dealer-run brand stores and a 40 percent export share.