Thonet chairs

Everyone has seen them, and probably sat in one of the Thonet chairs.

Born in the small German town of Boppard, Michael Thonet is one of the most important figures in the furniture industry. Having seen how barrel and wood manufacturers bend wood, he came up with the idea of using hot steam to bend beech wood into desired shapes, known today as Thonet's process. As beech wood is flexible by nature, using the appropriate tools and molds Michael gets a completely new way of processing with which he manages to make a wide range of products. Designing chair number 4 for the famous Daum cafe in Vienna in 1850, Michael became famous throughout Vienna.

Michael Thonet

He worked with a mission to create a chair for mass production at a good price. Over time, he succeeded in this and in 1859 Thonet chair number 14 was born, and Michael gained international fame.

It simultaneously met two criteria, quality and an affordable price (it cost a little less than a bottle of wine). It also represented a significant step forward because the production of furniture was moved from artisan workshops to factories. It consists of six pieces of wood - two circles, two sticks and several bows held together by 10 nails and two nuts. A special advantage was its easy assembly and convenient design for transporting several pieces at once.

chair number 14 and an example of how it is packed for transport

Around 1890. chair no. 14 was considered a typical Viennese coffee chair. Almost in the same period, more precisely in 1892, the French painter Henri Toulouse-Lautrec immortalized the Thonet chair in his painting "In Moulin Rouge", and another model, chair number 20, was the subject of inspiration for another French painter- Henri Matisse for a painting called "Interior with a violin". Chair No. 14 is the best-selling chair in the world (2019 was its jubilee 160th birthday), history says that by 1930. more than 50 million were sold, but countless copies of this chair were also made.

1. Toulouse-Lautrec 2. Matisse 3. Picasso 4. Einstein 5. Minnelli 6. Chaplin 7. Hepburn

8. unknown author (alamy stock image)

Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso also sat on Tonet chairs. They were seen in countless movies, even in Charlie Chaplin's films and the iconic Cabaret with Liza Minnelli. On the Eugraph website there is a detailed list of Tonet chair cameos in films: https://eugraph.net/thonetchairs/date.html . Today, it's a part of some concert choreographies. f.e. Beyonce used it for the choreography of Drunk in love (Formation tour 2016).

Beyonce and Thonet Number 14

dimensions of model number 14

A modified version is still produced and sold today, but under the name "number 214". One of the differences is the price, once available to everyone, today the 214 model costs around €700, so some well-known copies have been sold for decades at a much more affordable price. An example is Ikea and its Ögla chair, which costs a little less than €90. If you're lucky, you might find it in an attic, basement, or, like me, at a flea market for only €5 , a subtle flex :) .

700€ vs 90€

my prized possession, Thonet number15

only at the flea market you can buy 2 chairs for 5 euros

After Michael's death, the factory remains in the family's possession, and his sons continued the tradition of making furniture. In 1930. the Thonet company continues to be a leader in the production of modern furniture because they switch from bending wood to bending metal and thus create some of the most famous models of chairs in the world of modern design. Avant-garde architects Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe join the Thonet team. Marcel has lived through several chairs in cooperation with Tonet, among others the striking "console chair" - "S64" and all variations of that model. Original models reach the price of up to $4000. Ludvig creates the famous chair "S533", which is said to be associated with his architecture.

Breuer and Van der Rohe with their Tonet chairs

1. No.14 2. No.4 3. No.15 4. No.15 with handels 5.No.3

6. Melnikov coffee chair 7.s533 8.b34

Thonet models are timeless and fit into all types of interiors. Although today they are most represented in the Scandinavian style of interior design, these models suffer from combining several different models at the dining table, for a bit of an eclectic undertone, but it is suggested that there are always 2 types of the same chair in combination in order to achieve balance in the design. In 2019/2020, the trend of Spanish cane prevailed, so Thonet chairs became the "It" chairs on the Internet, neither wrong nor long. One of the rare trends that is not fleeting, because Thonet models are evergreen.

new logo and modern versions of classics

mix&match Thonet ( Pinterest)

dining table inspo (Pinterest)

In Podgorica, a version of model no. 15 with handles can be seen in the restaurant called Gostiona 1928. One of the rare jewels of design in our city. More about Gostiona, but also about Thonet models made of wrought iron some next time... It is difficult to tell the story of Thonet in only a few lines.

This was only the introduction :) .

Gostiona 1928, Podgorica