Long before firms sought to craft a corporate identity with the aid of thick styleguides and design guidelines entrepreneur Fritz Hahne assisted by architects and designers worked on a corporate culture, which defined the corporate image, buildings and quite naturally also the fairness and ecological responsibility of the Wilkhahn brand. Based on the principles of the Ulm Design School and the Deutscher Werkbund (German Association of Craftsmen) the products were to stand for individual design language, better functionality, durability and lasting styling. Today, if you look at this meanwhile internationally famous maker of office furniture celebrating its centenary this strategy has proven more than successful. After all, Wilkhahn is one of the world's leaders in this field. The name guarantees high-quality seating combined with intelligent design. Not only the double-digit sales increase for 2006 proves that the market demands precisely this combination of durability and high quality, but also the numerous awards the products have received. Most recently, the Aline product family attracted attention with its centerpiece the Aline-Kufenstuhl skid base chair. The chair's lightweight look combined with high comfort and sophisticated functionality for both informal and professional contexts brought the product family international recognition. In the Office/Business category of the iF product design award the Aline chair gained the iF gold award ahead of numerous international competitors. Furthermore, the chair designed by Andreas Störiko was declared best product and granted "Focus Gold? in the international Baden-Württemberg design award. This time it asserted itself in the Interior category over competing international designer and home furniture items. At The Design Annual in Frankfurt the Wilkhahn fair booth attracted particular attention. For the innovative presentation technology marking the company's centenary anniversary it received the ADAM Award in silver. In other words, aside from the centenary exhibitions and the book publication there were enough reasons for a big staff party in Bad Münder.