Imagine chair number 14 falling from the Eiffel Tower. It survived. This story starts on Rue des Frères Thonet. It’s fitting. The Thonet Brothers were known for durability and innovation. Their furniture even survived a fall from the Eiffel Tower.
Rue des Frères Thonet commemorates a family of furniture makers. This wasn’t just any furniture. It was revolutionary. Michael Thonet began it all. He opened his first workshop in 1819. It was in Boppard by the River Rhine.
Thonet gained fame for elegant chairs. He also tested innovative wood processing. Clemens von Metternich, the Austrian State Chancellor, heard of him. Metternich convinced Thonet to move to Vienna. This helped Thonet design interiors for Palais Liechtenstein. He expanded his skills. He built a network.
In 1849 Michael Thonet started a company in Vienna. In 1853 he renamed it Gebrüder Thonet. It was a family company from the start. Today we would call it a start-up. Thonet’s furniture became popular in coffee houses. These were important social spots in the mid-19th century.
Around 1850, Thonet furnished Café Daum. This Vienna institution was frequented by aristocrats. Chair number 4 made Thonet famous across the city. Michael Thonet achieved international success in 1859. This was with chair number 14. It was the Vienna Coffee House Chair. The innovation was bending solid beech wood. This allowed almost industrial production. It created a product available worldwide.
The chair was based on a modular principle. Components were produced with division of labor. They could be combined as needed. This created demand-oriented efficient production. The former model number 14 today is 214. It was delivered disassembled to save space.
Thonet created a network of facilities. These were close to raw materials. They were near transport routes. This supplied markets efficiently. Regional expansion was important for the company.
By 1890 Thonet’s bentwood chairs were everywhere in Vienna. They were in restaurants and cafes. Members of literary modernism met at Café Griensteidl. They sat on Thonet No. 4 chairs. Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Arthur Schnitzler were regulars.
Henri Toulouse-Lautrec painted people on bentwood chairs. This was in his 1892 painting “At the Moulin Rouge.” Henri Matisse staged Thonet No. 20 in “Intérieur au violon”. He painted it in Nice at the Hotel de la Méditerranée.
In the 1920s many venues used Thonet furniture. These included cafes restaurants and dance clubs. Even concert halls used them. Although designers reinterpreted Thonet’s bentwood chair No 14 remained popular. In 1929 the average daily production was 18000 chairs.
Around 1930 Marcel Breuer created steel furniture. Thonet produced Breuer’s designs. Today’s tubular steel classics S 32 and S 64 were created. They link bentwood and tubular steel techniques. Their Vienna wicker reminds us of handicraft.
Thonet furniture became a silent star of international cinema. It appeared in films with self-avowed Thonet collectors. By the end of World War II Thonet lost facilities. From 1945 to 1953 Georg Thonet rebuilt the Frankenberg facility.
Since the 1960s Thonet has cooperated with designers. These included Egon Eiermann Verner Panton and Pierre Paulin. Today materials are reinterpreted. Thonet classics are living elements. They are made for everyday use. Architects have designed for Thonet. Range 118 by Sebastian Herkner references the Coffee House Chair 214. The archetype of a Thonet chair.
So as you walk down Rue des Frères Thonet remember the legacy. It is a legacy of innovation. It is a legacy of design. It is a legacy that even survived a fall from the Eiffel Tower.