In 1819, cabinet maker and joiner Michael Thonet opened up his first workshop in Boppard/River Rhine. Crafting exquisite filigree chairs, Thonets’ quest for a less laborious process guided him to an innovative method of bending wood followed by a technique of curving cast iron that reinforced the shape of the chairs. This enabled chairs to be made for a mass market with each chair being delivered to customers in space saving disassembled parts leading to exponential sales and Thonet became the first furniture brand ever to have global distribution.  Chair No.14, the so-called Vienna Coffee House Chair, became an iconic fixture in the bohemian cafes frequented by aristocrats, artists, intelligentsia and military personnel. Masterpieces painted by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Henri Matisse depict the chairs whilst Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein have all famously coveted designs. The 1930s saw the introduction of tubular steel, much admired by the Modernist Bauhaus movement. Collaborations have since continued, one of our favourites here at Heritage53 being the Pierre Paulin editions. Throughout the centuries Thonet chairs have brought people and radical thinkers together. It is not just a chair but a piece of notable history. Today Thonet has sustainability, the environment and people at the forefront of all it does,  not surprising for a chair that seated a thousand conversations over 200 hundred years ago and continues to be at the forefront of communication and dialogue today.

“Never was a better and more elegant design and a more precisely crafted and practical item created.” -Le Corbusier, 1925