Michael Thonet

Michael Thonet

Michael Thonet (born 2. July 1796 in Boppard/Germany; died 3. March 1871 in Vienna/Austria) is probably less important to furniture design for what he did than how he did it. Where his 1859 "Chair No. 14" is without question one of the classics of world furniture design, much more important is the process behind the chairs construction. The son of a tanner Thonet undertook a carpentry apprenticeship before setting himself up as a cabinet maker. From a young age Thonet was fascinated by the concept of bending wood to create durable, sturdy and for all natural forms. After much experimentation Michael Thonet was finally to achieve his goal, the bending of a round beech pole and his so called Bugholztechnik was to open the way for the cheap, industrial production of Thonet's chairs. In addition, Thonets discovery remains both an interesting production method for modern designers, and an inspiration and incentive for designers - in this context one need only think of, for example, Charles and Ray Eames experimentation with moulding plywood some 100 years later. Michael Thonet's second important contribution to the development of furniture design was the modular design of the chairs. This meant not only that broken or worn parts could be easily replaced, but also meant that the chairs could be shipped unassembled - thus saving costs and so paving the way for the global expansion of the company and its furniture. As such Michael Thonet can be seen as the father of not only modern industrial furniture production but also of modern automated processing.