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Enterprises
We must go back to the nineteenth century in order to trace the origins of Gebrüder Thonet, founded in 1853 in Vienna by Prussian cabinetmaker Michael Thonet and his five sons. Thonet became a legendary name in the furniture industry thanks to the steam-bending technique that he developed using a chemical and mechanical process. This innovation allowed Thonet to produce bentwood furniture that was elegant and at the same time rational. Many hallmark pieces date back to this era, starting from the No. 1 chair, designed for the famous Palais Schwarzenberg in Vienna. No. 1 is the archetypical Thonet chair from which all the other models were developed, including No. 14, the Thonet chair par excellence. In 1911, the company’s catalogue featured 980 different models and by 1920 the company was so successful that it was selling an impressive 30 million chairs. Legendary in form as well as in the quality of their construction, these chairs continue to fascinate us to this day. François Burkhardt, design historian and an expert in Gebrüder Thonet, retraces the company’s more recent history, which is still firmly projected into the future. Ugo La Pietra
The Arch Coffee Table (2014), by Swedish design group Front. Opposite page, Pablo Picasso in his inseparable Thonet rocking chair in his studio in Cannes.
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05/03/15 18:00