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The famous coffee house chair is an icon and considered the most successful mass produced product in the world to date: it initiated the history of modern furniture. The basis was a new technique – the bending of solid wood – that Michael Thonet developed and perfected during the 1850s, and it was the first time serial furniture production was possible. Added was an ingenious distribution model: 36 disassembled chairs could be packed into a one cubic metre box, shipped throughout the world, and then assembled on site. With its clear, reduced aesthetics this classic has been placed in the most diverse environments for more than 150 years.

Dimensions	52 × 43 × 84 cm
Materials	beech, cane, polyurethane, upholstery

Year

1859

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Michael Thonet

With the invention of bentwood furniture, Michael Thonet laid the cornerstone of industrial production. He was born in 1796 in Boppard/Rhine, where he opened his own workshop in 1819. In 1842 Prince Metternich summoned him to Vienna. Together with his sons he founded a company in 1849; within a short amount of time it became globally successful and expanded rapidly. More than 865,000 bentwood chairs per year were produced in today's Czech Republic, Hungary, and Russia. Michael Thonet died in Vienna in 1871; his sons then took over the company. During the 1930s, Thonet was committed to the construction and technology of tubular steel furniture and quickly became the largest manufacturer in the world. World War II represented a harsh caesura: the plants in the eastern regions were disowned. The facility in Frankenberg (Germany), founded in 1889, has been the corporate headquarter and production site since then. Thonet is still a family-owned business and is managed today by the 5th generation. The company manufactures bentwood and tubular steel classics as well as new models, which are developed in cooperation with famous architects and designers.