Manufacturer · Austria / Germany · Vienna, Frankenberg · est. 1819
Thonet
Thonet – company founded by Michael Thonet, pioneer of steam-bent wood, manufacturer of chair no. 14 and tubular steel furniture by Bauhaus designers.
About the manufacturer
- Years active
- est. 1819
- Country
- Austria / Germany
- Location
- Vienna, Frankenberg
Michael Thonet (1796–1871), a cabinetmaker from Boppard on the Rhine, opened his own workshop in 1819 and began experimenting with steam-bending solid wood around 1830. He moved to Vienna in 1842, and in 1853 passed the company to his sons, after which it operated as Gebrüder Thonet.
The first factory in Moravia was established in the mid-1850s, followed by another in 1861 in Bystřice pod Hostýnem, now operating as TON. Chair no. 14, dating from 1859 and now designated 214, was produced in over 50 million units. Rocking armchair no. 1 was introduced in 1860. In 1881, the Thonet brothers opened a bentwood furniture factory in Radomsko, later known as Fameg, and in 1889 a factory in Frankenberg, Hesse, which is now the company's headquarters.
At the end of the 1920s, Thonet began producing tubular steel furniture: in 1928, it entered into an agreement with Marcel Breuer, and in 1929 acquired Standard-Möbel. The range included cantilever chairs by Mart Stam and Marcel Breuer. During the interwar period, the company merged with Mundus. After 1945, it lost its factories in Central and Eastern Europe, and in 1976 split into German and Austrian divisions.
The company's history is documented by Museum Thonet in Frankenberg, which opened in 1989. More furniture from this tradition can be found in the Bauhaus and Mid-Century Modern collections.
