Bent wood chair caught by bent silver birch could be the caption of this photo.
From time to time I search the Commons on Flickr for nice old photos of chairs. This one is part of the State Library of Queensland Library collection.
Tag: Thonet
Einstein and Thonet
Albert Einstein
leaning against a Thonet or Thonet alike bentwood chair in Madrid, 1923.
I received this photo today as a nice surprise for publication here from one of our Spanish readers, Álvaro de la Cruz-Dombriz. Thank you Álvaro!
The big question for me is now: “Is it a Thonet chair, and, if so, what model?” Note the leg ends resting in copper or zinc pods.
Excellent for our Chairchez L’Homme series.
Update
Álvaro suggests in a comment this is the Thonet no. 20. However, I’m not sure or just headstrong . My first reaction when seeing the photo was: “Not a Thonet”, because if you compare the diameter of the back with the body of Einstein, the bentwood back is almost arm thick. Usually a back of a Thonet Chair is much thinner. However it is very well possible: I’ve checked Swiss Thonet expert Dieter Staedeli’s gallery of Wiener Moebel: He comments:
Thonet No.20 chair of Vienna, around 1872. The model went into production 1870-71. The early 20s are made in a very strait and not very comfortable back design. But this very chair form is exemplary for the first production models and are sought after collectibles. At about 1875 found in all models of Thonet chair gradually switching to ergonomic back forms
Update 2: A Thonet or not a Thonet?
Further to the comment of Geert, I found a nice Bentwood dedicated blog which featured a Thonet (Halb?)fauteuil no 20:
Update 3: Chairvertizing
I’ve added this post to our Chairvertizing series. What is better than to use a famous person to make your chair (more) famous, or the other way around: Take a famous chair to become (more) famous yourself;-)
Last edited by Guido J. van den Elshout on December 15, 2011 at 5:36 PM
Thonet Store in Frankfurt
Hot from our own The Chair-Blog Daily:
Thonet opens Flagshipstore in Frankfurt
It features a diversity of modern and timeless furniture across design history: from the famous bentwood coffee house chair to tubular steel furniture from the Bauhaus era to the most recent designs by renowned designers and architects. The store’s interior design offers an overview of our program, from the contract to the living segment.
With a total floor area of more than 200,000 square meters and a length of 660 m THE SQUAIRE is currently Europe’s largest office and business building. It is situated in the center of mobility at Frankfurt Airport above the long-distance train station in direct vicinity to the autobahn.
THONET Store
West 11, Ebene 5 (Atrium), Flughafen
D-60600 Frankfurt
T. +49 69 794 02 77 0
forum@thonet-forum.de
www.thonet-forum.de
Opening hours
Monday through Friday 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Closed on Sundays
Yellow Thonet
Experimenting a bit: If you grab the code, the photo is auto linked to Flickr where it is coined Yellow Chair by little glowing lights, on Flickr. Easy and nifty.
Thonet No 5 Settee
Sometimes I really have to get a dose of Thonet for my Thonet addiction. Today a settee for sale in Dallas, Texas via 1stdibs for $ 3,800.- …