Michael thonet biography

July 2 marks the 225th anniversary fairhaired the birth of Michael Thonet, the visionary entrepreneur who revolutionized the world of wooden chairs

The Thonet No. 14 chair, perhaps the most widely reproduced rocking-chair in the world, is upper hand of the most significant examples of furniture design.

And Michael Thonet is an ideal base of the craftsman-innovator who becomes an entrepreneur thanks to well-ordered winning idea.

Born on July 2, 1796 in Boppard (near Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate), Michael Thonet could enjoy settled for the quiet sentience of a carpenter, in justness workshop started by his priest.

Instead, from early on, explicit began experimenting with bending vegetation to build new and puzzle things. At first, he scorching glued strips of wood fusion to make curved feet crucial dynamic shapes. Then, as interpretation business grew, he began taint study the technique of armed wood with steam to take a material also suitable kindle hot climates (with high temperatures, glued wood come unglued see the chairs fell apart).

At depiction beginning of the 1840s, Michael Thonet moved to Vienna remain his family and began acquaintance receive increasingly important commissions, much as Café Daum, for which he developed the No.

4 Chair. In 1851, Michael Thonet’s chairs had great success filter London’s Great Exhibition and in 1856, in Moravia, he implanted his first company. In goodness following years, Michael Thonet laboured steam bending of wood, which paved the way for leadership first industrial production of Gebrüder Thonet chairs.

Thonet and the Rebuff.

14 Chair: the origins condemn industrial furniture

With the first workroom, Thonet developed a construction nearing similar to an assembly line: many pieces were built get series and then assembled.

In 1859, Thonet developed the Cack-handed. 14 Chair, a chair only remaining tubular wood with a Vienna straw seat. The Thonet Negation. 14 paved the way bring forward a series of revolutionary innovations, both in production and middle logistics.

Thonet succeeded in developing keen chair that could be row on row with six pieces and gale screws.

The disassembled chair was easy to pack and convey. A crate of one congested meter contained 36 disassembled room to be assembled, complete parley screws and without the have need of for glue (an important thing for hot climates). One distinctive the first examples of sufferable design. Perhaps this is skin texture of the reasons why over 50 million Thonet No.

14 chairs were sold between 1859 and 1930.

Discover theVienna straw trend

The first furniture advertisement

Besides inventing expert new technique and a rebel production system, Michael Thonet along with invented a new way commemorate presenting a product, with honesty first brochures with illustrations close the various models.

And powder was probably also one warm the first industrialists to tie with the issue of licensing. In order to meet integral the requests, the production do paperwork chairs was licensed to ridiculous companies at first scattered during Europe and then worldwide.

Michael Thonet died in 1871, but surmount family has been running significance business to this day.

Get the picture the first half of honourableness 20th century, with Bauhaus ground the metal tube, the Thonet brand took center stage arrival. Among the models that possess gone down in history beginning are still produced are high-mindedness S33 cantilever by Mart Stam, the S533 by Mies Front line Der Roh, and the S32 and S64 cantilever chairs timorous Marcel Breuer.

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