No. 14 chair
Encyclopedia
| No. 14 Chair | |
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| Date : 1860 | |
| Country Country A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously... : Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... |
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| Materials : Wood Wood Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression... , Steam-bent Bentwood Bentwood is a term used to describe furniture made by steaming wood, bending it, and letting it harden into curved shapes and patterns, and is most often used in the production of rocking chairs, cafe chairs, and other light furniture. The iconic No... Beechwood, 10 screws, and 2 nuts. |
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| Style/Tradition : Classic | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Colours : Light brown wood. | |
The No. 14 chair is the most famous chair
Chair
A chair is a stable, raised surface used to sit on, commonly for use by one person. Chairs are most often supported by four legs and have a back; however, a chair can have three legs or could have a different shape depending on the criteria of the chair specifications. A chair without a back or...
made by the Thonet
Gebrüder Thonet
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....
chair company. Also known as the bistro chair, it was designed 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...
in the 19th century using a unique steam-bending technology, known as bentwood
Bentwood
Bentwood is a term used to describe furniture made by steaming wood, bending it, and letting it harden into curved shapes and patterns, and is most often used in the production of rocking chairs, cafe chairs, and other light furniture. The iconic No...
, that required years to perfect. With its affordable price and simple design, it became one of the best-selling chairs ever made. Some 50 million No. 14s were sold between 1860 and 1930, and millions more have been sold since.
Thonet’s No. 14 was made of six pieces of steam-bent wood, ten screws, and two nuts. The wooden parts were made by heating beechwood slats to 100 degrees Celsius, pressing them into curved cast-iron molds, and then drying them at around 70 degrees Celsius for 20 hours. The chairs could be mass produced by unskilled workers and disassembled to save space during transportation, an idea similar to flat pack Ikea
IKEA
IKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...
furniture.
Later chairs, as illustrated here, were made of eight pieces of wood: two diagonal braces were added between the seat and back, to strengthen this hard-worked joint.
The design was a response to a requirement for cafe-style chairs. The seat was often made of woven cane or palm, because the holes in the seat would let spilt liquid drain off the chair.
Chair No 14, today known as 214, is still produced by Thonet.
Design classic
The No. 14 chair is widely regarded as a design classic. It earned a gold medal when it was shown at the 1867 World Exposition in ParisExposition Universelle (1867)
The Exposition Universelle of 1867 was a World Exposition held in Paris, France, in 1867.-Conception:In 1864, Emperor Napoleon III decreed that an international exposition should be held in Paris in 1867. A commission was appointed with Prince Jerome Napoleon as president, under whose direction...
. It has been praised by many designers and architects, including Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
, who said "Never was a better and more elegant design and a more precisely crafted and practical item created."
Redesign
In 2009, the chair was redesigned by James IrvineJames Irvine (designer)
James Irvine is a London-born designer working in Milan, where he moved in 1984. He obtained his Bachelor's degree from the Kingston Polytechnic Design school and his Master's from the Royal College of Art. In 1999 he specially designed a body for the Mercedes-Benz O530 Citaro bus for the city of...
, an English designer, and retailed from Muji
MUJI
, or is a Japanese retail company which sells a wide variety of household and consumer goods.Muji is distinguished by its design minimalism, emphasis on recycling, avoidance of waste in production and packaging, and no-logo or "no-brand" policy....
, a Japanese company. Roland Ohnacker, managing director of Thonet, stated that the aim was "to help 18 to 35 year-olds enter the Thonet brand world."