Thonet – over 200 years tradition
- Design classics since 1819
- Bentwood and tubular steel
- stands for durability and the irrepressible urge for innovation
Thonet - From the coffee house to the world
Thonet has been producing high-quality furniture since 1819, making it one of the oldest family-run companies in the world within the design industry. A strong drive for innovation, the use of pioneering technologies and outstanding design are the cornerstones on which Thonet has built its enduring success for over 200 years.
The well-known classics made of bentwood, such as the 214 coffee house chair, and tubular steel, such as the S32 cantilever chair, are constantly being further developed in new editions and thus always keep their finger on the pulse of the times. To this end, Thonet works together with numerous renowned national and international designers.
The Frankenberg-based manufacturer stands for consistency and the irrepressible urge to innovate. Thonet was the first manufacturer to bring bentwood furniture onto the market and to sell tubular steel furniture. Michael Thonet founded his own workshop in Boppard am Rhein in 1819. In the 1830s, he experimented with veneer strips boiled in glue and is therefore regarded as the inventor of "bentwood furniture". in 1842, he was invited to Vienna by the Austrian State Chancellor Prince Metternich and the coffee house culture there laid the foundation for Thonet's later success.
With this innovative spirit, it is not surprising that Thonet also cultivated links with the Bauhaus and Marcel Breuer. Thonet implemented Breuer's experiments with cold-bent tubular steel and produced the famous cantilever chairs.
