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Thonet

S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair

by Mart Stam, 1931 — from 410,00 €
Thonet S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair

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S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair

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410,00 € *
More than 5 x in stock, delivery time 1 working day (country of delivery Germany)
3 % advance payment discount*: 397,70 € (Save 12,30 €)

One of the first cantilever chairs in furniture design history the S 43 by Mart Stam has been produced by Thonet since its inception in the 1920s. At the time the Thonet chair was part of Mart Stam's contribution to the exhibition "The Apartment" at the Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart: and Stam's pioneering work influenced numerous colleagues. Today Mart Stam's S 43 is one of the genuine classics at Thonet. Distinguished by a timeless, reduced form and elegant combination of resilient tubular steel frame with a seat and backrest crafted from moulded plywood.

Details

Product type Cantilever chair
Dimensions

(1) Height: 82 cm
(2) Width: 44 cm
(3) Depth: 52 cm
(4) Seat height: 46 cm

Optional seat pad:
Width: 39,6 cm
Depth: 38,9 cm
Height: 0,5 cm, with upholstery 1,6 cm
Colours Seat pad (optionally)
Felt black
Felt light grey melange

Stained beech
Black
Dark brown
Walnut
Cherry
Beech natural

Lacquered beech
Deep black
Pure white

Frame
Stainless steel, chrome plated

Material Seat and backrest: plywood beech or oak
Frame: Tubular steel, chrome plated or powder coated
Seat pad (optional): felt (100 % wool), padding: foam
Glides (optional): plastic, black or transparent
Variants Available in different finishes
Optional with felt seat pad upholstered/unupholstered
Optional felt glides for hard floors

Version with armrests S 43 F and S 43 Classics in Colour can be ordered separately
Accessories Suitable Seat Pad for S 43 Classic by Parkhaus Berlin available separately in many more colours
Functions & Properties Loadable up to 110 kg
Non stackable
Care For cleaning the wood and metal surfaces a soft, damp cloth and a mild, neutral detergent is recommended
Certificates DIN EN 16139 level I (furniture for non-residential use)
Sustainability Thonet has declared sustainability to be a corporate principle. The manufacturer continuously optimizes all processes from production/technology, materials management and recyclability to transport routes and constantly pays attention to resource-saving energy and material consumption. Last but not least, social and ethical principles are among the top priorities. Thonet has been awarded the "Green Globe Certificate" for its measures of sustainable and environmentally friendly management - further information can be found here.
Warranty 24 months
Product family Thonet Cantilever Chairs
Datasheet Please click on picture for detailed information (ca. 2,4 MB).
Product presentation

Popular versions

S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair, Chrome-plated frame, Stained beech, Black (TP 29), Without seat pad, No glides
S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair, Chrome-plated frame, Lacquered beech, Deep black (RAL 9005), Without seat pad, No glides
S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair, Chrome-plated frame, Stained beech, Natural beech, Without seat pad, No glides
S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair, Chrome-plated frame, Lacquered beech, Pure white (RAL 9010), Without seat pad, No glides
S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair, Chrome-plated frame, Stained beech, Cherry tree, Without seat pad, No glides
S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair, Chrome-plated frame, Stained beech, Natural beech, Seat pad with upholstery light grey melange, No glides
S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair, Chrome-plated frame, Stained beech, Natural beech, Seat pad with upholstery black, No glides
S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair, Chrome-plated frame, Lacquered beech, Pure white (RAL 9010), Seat pad with upholstery light grey melange, No glides
S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair, Chrome-plated frame, Stained beech, Black (TP 29), Seat pad with upholstery black, Black plastic glides with felt
S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair, Chrome-plated frame, Stained beech, Cherry tree, Without seat pad, Black plastic glides with felt
S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair, Chrome-plated frame, Lacquered beech, Pure white (RAL 9010), Seat pad without upholstery light grey melange, No glides
S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair, Chrome-plated frame, Stained beech, Natural beech, Without seat pad, Black plastic glides with felt
S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair, Chrome-plated frame, Lacquered beech, Pure white (RAL 9010), Seat pad without upholstery black, No glides

FAQ

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Should the answers to your questions not be found here, our service team can be contacted Mon-Fri, 9 am - 5 pm via +49 341 2222 88 22.

Is it possible to retrofit felt glides to an S 43 Classic?

A Thonet cantilever chair is specially produced to allow a retrofitting with plastic glides (transparent or black) with or without felt insert using the pre-punched drill holes, add an additional 11 mm to the overall height and cost 29,- EUR per set / chair.On older cantilever models produced before 2010, the Thonet frames were pre-punched as standard and the glides are installed as follows: With a 4.2 mm drill (available at any hardware store or as the special-hardened Thonet drill bits for Euro) bore holes in the marked locations. The felt pads can then be attached using the supplied self-tapping screws.

Can replacement S 43 Classic seats or backrests be ordered?

S 43 spares cannot be supplied simply because the seat and backrest are not screwed onto the frame but riveted. In addition, over the years the contours and radius of the frames have changed ever so slightly. therefore depending on how old your chairs are, modern seats and backrest may not fit. Thonet however offer a repair service in which chairs are repaired at their factory.

What is the difference between the lacquered and stained wood finishes of a S 43 Classic?

The lacquered variant is bright and glossy (jet black RAL 9005, white RAL 9010, RAL 3013 tomato red, anthracite gray RAL 7016). The stained version is more matt and the wood grain is visible.

Design Story

Mart Stams cantilever chair without armrests: the S 43 from Thonet

The Design

The cantilever chair S 43 by Mart Stam was one of the first chairs designed without back legs and is in many ways now considered the archetypal Bauhaus classic. Inspired by car, plane and train seats, for which partly cantilevered tubular steel frames were already being used, Mart Stam's 1925 creation further developed and evolved the principle of the Thonet cantilever chair. Produced since its creation by the manufacturer Thonet Mart Stam's S 43 without arms was after the Thonet S 33 one of the precursors of the cantilever chair, the rigid nature of its construction meaning a resilient, giving, seat was missing. The S 43, was used in the 1927 in the exhibition "Die Wohnung" in the Weissenhofsiedlung Stuttgart, where Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was also represented with a cantilever model. In the following years Stams model was further developed by different designers and as a concept quickly gained in popularity. Consequently from the very early days there was confusion about the authorship of the Bauhaus chair, and although in 1932 the Supreme Court awarded Mart Stam artistic authorship of the cantilever chair today the debate still rages as to whether Mart Stam or Marcel Breuer is the real spiritual father of the cantilever chair.
Mart Stam gave his design a cubist inspired form. The strict concentration of the S 43 Thonet chair design on a simple geometric construction is characteristic of a work developed by minimalist reduction. The elasticity of the steel tube allows the frame of the Thonet S 43 to remain flexible and resilient and thus respond to the movements of the user. Upholstery is unnecessary due to this elasticity, and so the seat and backrest could be made ??from simple moulded plywood. In addition to the S 43 Classic Stam also developed the S 43F, a version with armrests. With its economical aesthetic the S 43 is today considered as an outstanding example of a furniture design in the spirit of modernism that combines comfort and a minimalist design language.

S 43 designer Mart Stam

Manufacturer

Originally founded in 1819 by Michael Thonet in Boppard am Rhine, Germany as a joinery firm, the company quickly developed into a world renowned furniture manufacturer and for all one which made a name for itself through the use of new technologies and outstanding designs. Beginning with the bentwood chairs of the 19th century and continuing over to models such as the S 43 Thonet chairs are characterised by a special combination of technical innovation and novel design. For their famous bentwood chairs Thonet developed a novel layer-glued wood construction that was very durable and much easier to mould than what had previously been attempted. As a result Thonet has always tended to exist in its own technical and aesthetic universe. The copyrights of Mart Stam's S 43 are now with the company Thonet, who began production of the cantilever beganshortly after the Weissenhofsiedlung exhibition in Stuttgart. In 1989 Thonet opened a company museum at their base in Frankenberg / Eder where visitors can follow the development of both the S 43 and the company's two hundred years of furniture design history.

Production of Thonet steel cantilever chair in Frankenberg, Hessen

Production

Mart Stam's S 43 without arms and his S 43F with armrests are produced by traditional manufacturing processes at the Thonet factory in Frankenberg, Germany. The frame of Thonet S 43 consists of a single metal tube, which is available in polished or polished stainless steel. The wood components are sourced exclusively from selected, bright and non-steamed wood from European countries and are further processed by Thonet. The seat and backrest of the Thonet S 43 are made of veneered plywood and are available in various designs. With its moulded beech plywood shell the "raw" S 43 has a warm, slightly reddish-yellow tone. In addition, the Thonet chair is available in different stains and lacquers. Thonet use an environmentally responsible hydro lacquer that contains only 2% solvent..

Readying room of the Deutschen Nationalbibliothek in Leipzig with S 43 Thonet chairs

Historical Context

Mart Stam, who himself taught at Bauhaus, designed the S 43 in the sense of the Bauhaus spirit: a new, experimental design language which was considerate of the new industrial and manufacturing processes being developed. At Bauhaus next to the functionality of furniture design, the ability to produce the works serially and at an affordable price was of central importance. Since 1921, thanks to new manufacturing methods, it had possible to produce flexible tubes with thin walls; thus the Bauhaus chair S 43 was ideal for serial production. Works such as the S 43 and other examples of bent steel furniture were to become the symbol of a new era. In contrast to the mysticism and warmth of wood, metal furniture stood with its coolness for the reform possibilities of modernity. Characteristic of the once revolutionary furniture design is timeless aesthetics. Even today, Bauhaus furniture is regarded as modern and contemporary. Nearly 80 years after the 1933 furnishing of the National Library in Leipzig with the S 43 the new University Library in Leipzig was in 2008 furnished with S 43 chairs.

Michael Thonet, founder of the furniture manufacturer that bears his name. In this photo surrounded by his sons

More about 'S 43 Klassik', 'S 43' in our blog

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...Browne - objects such as Mart Stam's S 43 cantilever chair and S 33 cantilever chair or Marcel Breuer's S 285 desk and B 9 stacking tables established themselves as popular classics...

Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat ... gift ideas from House Thonet

...Thonet S 43 Classic by Mart Stam A further development of Mart Stam's classic cantilever chair design the Thonet S 43 mixes plywood with steel tubing to produce an unmistakable, reduced design that works just as well at a desk as at a dinning table... The S 43 is not only one of the most recognised works of the Bauhaus era, it is also one of the most copied...

Vitra, Thonet and the art of designer furniture

...This week also came the written judgement from Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf in the case of Thonet against an Italian producer of Mart Stam copies, in particular the S 43 cantilever chair... The court decided that being a work of visual art the S 43 is still protected by copyright, and, as such, can only be produced by the licence holder; namely, Thonet...

Thonet: 150 years of tradition

In the next week or so we will be introducing here some of the new products from Thonet that are now available at smow.com. But before we get that far, a small video below that explains something of the story of Thonet furniture and the production process...

(smow)offline: Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model

We're just a touch late with this one, but since July 22nd the Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin has been showing the exhibition "Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model". For the first time, the three German Bauhaus institutions - Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, Museum für...

All 'S 43 Klassik', 'S 43' Posts

Accessories

Seat Pad for S 43 / S 43 F

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