Gebrüder Thonet
Encyclopedia
Gebrüder Thonet is a European furniture manufacturer based in the German
town of Frankenberg, Hesse
. It was founded by Michael Thonet
. It merged with Mundus
in 1922.
Thonet were particularly known for their manufacture of bentwood
furniture, for which they had developed the first industrial-scale production processes. These replaced previous individual craft skills with an investment in machinery that allowed any worker to produce accurate and repeatable bent components. Although steam bending was long established for pieces such as the Windsor chair
, these older pieces had used the bending of a raw billet that would then be shaped to size afterwards. Thonet's more precise process allowed timber to be machined with a surface finish as raw stock (usually as thick circular dowel), steam bent to shape, then used as a component almost immediately, without further machining other than to trim the ends.
Their best known piece was the No. 14 chair
, the iconic chair of Parisian cafes.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
town of Frankenberg, Hesse
Frankenberg, Hesse
Frankenberg an der Eder is a town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany.The mountain at a ford over the Eder north of the Burgwald range was for a long time a fortified place, playing an especially important rôle under the Franks in the Saxon Wars...
. It was founded by Michael Thonet
Michael Thonet
Michael Thonet was a German-Austrian cabinet maker.Thonet was the son of master tanner Franz Anton Thonet of Boppard. Following a carpenter's apprenticeship, Thonet set himself up as an independent cabinetmaker in 1819. A year later, he married Anna Grahs, with whom he had seven sons and six...
. It merged with Mundus
Mundus furniture
Mundus was the name of a furniture-manufacturing company, active in several places in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century....
in 1922.
Thonet were particularly known for their manufacture of bentwood
Steam bending
Steam bending is a woodworking technique where strips of wood are steamed to make them pliable and are bent around a mould. It is a time-honored method in wooden boat building for shaping boat frames. It is also used to make traditional wooden lacrosse sticks....
furniture, for which they had developed the first industrial-scale production processes. These replaced previous individual craft skills with an investment in machinery that allowed any worker to produce accurate and repeatable bent components. Although steam bending was long established for pieces such as the Windsor chair
Windsor chair
A Windsor chair is a chair built with a solid wooden seat into which the chair-back and legs are dowelled, or pushed into drilled holes, in contrast to standard chairs, where the back legs and the uprights of the back are continuous. The seats of Windsor chairs were often carved into a shallow dish...
, these older pieces had used the bending of a raw billet that would then be shaped to size afterwards. Thonet's more precise process allowed timber to be machined with a surface finish as raw stock (usually as thick circular dowel), steam bent to shape, then used as a component almost immediately, without further machining other than to trim the ends.
Their best known piece was the No. 14 chair
No. 14 chair
The No. 14 chair is the most famous chair made by the Thonet chair company. Also known as the bistro chair, it was designed by Michael Thonet in the 19th century using a unique steam-bending technology, known as bentwood, that required years to perfect. With its affordable price and simple design,...
, the iconic chair of Parisian cafes.