I have designed a chair to be used from one generation to another. It will save its beauty. The ravages of time cannot spoil that.Michael Thonet
Michael Thonet, the father of industrial bending of massive wood, was born in 1796 in Boppard.
- 1819. opens a workshop.
- 1830. realizes a technology of gluing wooden laminate, instantly showed as technically and esthetically superior over traditional way of making furniture. Such simple form, relatively small mass, stability and hardness of the product were never seen before.
- 1842. Michael Thonet was invited to Vienna where he was engaged in equipping Lichtenstein palace. For the needs of the palace, between 1843 and 1846, he produced famuos Lichtenstein chairs.
- 1849. foundation of Gebruber Thonet OHG in Vienna.
- 1851. participation in World's Fair in London which made him worldly famous.
- 1853. Michael Thonet transforms the company and transfers the ownership to his five sons.
- 1850. - 1859. Industrial use of Thonet's wood bending technique spreads; Thonet develops the technique on his model #14 as his first original industrial product made of bended wood. The popularly named “Chair of all chairs” consists of six elements simply put together with ten bolts. Since that time nothing and noone could keep Thonet's chairs from conquering the world. They are present in Berlin, London, Paris, Brussel, Amsterdam, Milan, New York, St. Petersburg, Odessa, Moscow...
- 1860. - 1900. August Thonet, family designer and constructor, unhappy with offered production program, develops large number of chair models.
- around 1900. The influence of Art Nouveau and Vienna secession is recorded. The Thonet chairs being designed by Otto Wagner, Josef Hoffmann, Gustav Siegel, Adolf Loos, Koloman Moser and many others.
- 1911. Issued the biggest Thonet catalogue. It includes 1400 different models. In that time, 10.000 of employees in different factories manufacture 1,8 million of furniture units, 15% of which sold in Habsburg Monarchy and 85% exported in other countries.
