Kitchen apron Piggy Green by Overbeck & Friends. Size: 70 x 90 cm. Material: 100% cotton. Overbeck & Friends
Overbeck, that’s Andrea Overbeck, born and raised on the shores of the lake of Starnberg near Munich and since 1999 self-appointed ambassodor for heart-warming beautiful things. Friends, those are all the lovely people around Andrea, without whom such a creative business could never flourish. And that although everything began really small, in a back courtyard in the part of Munich called Schwabing. After her training as hotel manageress, stays in Italy, France and the USA and after working as a flight attendant for Lufthansa for 12 years, she felt the need to turn those endless travel-impressions into something creative. Inspired by the many colours of exotic markets, the magnificent multicoloured splendour of cottage gardens, the bright turquoise of the sea and by a wide variety of arts and crafts, the first ideas materialized in 1999 as “Blessing & Overbeck” – in the garage and at the living-room table of our small flat because capital wasn’t a terrific budget, but good friends, bold ideas and a great desire.
Since then almost 10 years have passed and especially last year was quite turbulent: After the separation from Sabine Blessing quite a few things in the company had to be restructured and rethought, not only the name. Andrea established new contacts and found valuable friends, who support her in her work. Two especially bright spots that should be mentioned here are the designers Orike Muth and Sandra Lindloge. With their creative way of looking at things and their craftsmanship there literally read the wishes and ideas from Andrea's lips – it was a real stroke of luck that they all met. After many years of friendly cooperation, the manufacturers for Overbeck now greatly enjoy developing ideas of their own which Overbeck is happy to take up. All articles are produced in so-called “Home Cottage Industries”. Small family businesses where our products are manufactured with great accuracy and patience. Egg cups are hand-painted, baskets woven by hand, the wood for the picture frames is chosen piece by piece and the lingerie-bags are hand-embroidered, just to name a few. And finally there are those friends who have supported Andrea, partly professionally but also on a private base, with their ideas, their commitment, their hands-on help. Without their spiritedness and confidence the establishment of Overbeck and Friends would have been unthinkable.