Chairs, Chair Design and Chair Designers
Designer: Michael Thonet
c. 1870
Description: Rocking chair with a dark wooden frame, and cane seat and back.
History: This is a replica of the 1870 design. The rocking chair was relatively unheard of in Europe until Thonet designed this piece.
Museum Collections: (University of Dundee)
Paris Antique Shop Au Bon Usage has strong Thonet roots as it is specialized in Thonet for over 25 years. [Update but it seems having closed shop somewhere in the 20ies]
I believe the photo shows the owner on one of the newly introduced city bikes of Paris.
It has its own (French) video of the Thonet Chair no 14 history:
In researching Thoneteando I found this short video about Michael Thonet:
Thonet no 14
Yes, I am fascinated by the Thonet History!
I copied this short history time line from the German Thonet Factory‘s site:
- 1796 Company founder Michael Thonet was born in Boppard am Rhein, Germany.
- 1819 The Thonet firm was founded in Boppard am Rhein.
- 1842 Prince Metternich called Michael Thonet to Vienna where Thonet played a leading role in the fitting out of Palais Lichtenstein and Palais Schwarzenberg.
- 1853 Michael Thonet handed over the business to his five sons: the company Gebrueder Thonet was registered.
- 1856 The first furniture factory was founded in Korycany (Moravia); five further production plants in Eastern Europe were opened in the years that followed.
- 1859 The consumer chair Thonet No. 14 (today: No. 214…in Germany) reached the production stage.
- 1889 Founding of the factory in Frankenberg/Eder as the first production plant in Germany.
- 1912 Highest production level of 2 million articles per year.
- 1923 Merger to become Thonet Mundus.
- 1929 Takeover of Standard Möbel Furniture Company of Marcel Breuer and purchase of the rights to designs by Marcel Breuer.
- 1931 Production start for the first cantilevered chair S 43 by Mart Stam.
- 1938 Thonet Mundus shares bought back by the Thonet family.
- 1945 Dispossession from the facilities in Eastern Europe and destruction of the Thonet building in Vienna; bomb attack on the facility in Frankenberg.
- 1945-1953 Factory in Frankenberg rebuilt by Georg Thonet.
- 1953 Thonet exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.
- 1961 The Federal Court of Justice confirms Mart Stam’s artistic copyright of the cantilever chair
- 1989 Opening of the Thonet Museum in its current form.
I have followed the development of the website over quite some years now, but finally it is getting better and better only recently.
In addition it is interesting to know that the Austrian Firm has been acquired by Poltrona Frau, the Italian chair manufacturer, who do less and less with their web presence.
