The history of Thonet began in 1819 with Michael Thonet, who opened a workshop specializing in woodworking in Boppard am Rhein. The technical quality and craftsmanship of Thonet chairs quickly gained widespread recognition, extending beyond the provincial borders and attracting the attention of Austrian State Chancellor Prince Clemens von Metternich, who encouraged Thonet to relocate to Vienna. From this new and prestigious setting, Thonet had the opportunity to contribute to the interior design of the Liechtenstein Palace, expanding his expertise in the field and developing an extremely valuable network of contacts. In 1849, he founded his own company in Vienna, which was renamed Gebrüder Thonet in 1853.
Over the years, Gebrüder Thonet became a true benchmark for the furniture design of its time, establishing a prominent place in the collective imagination thanks in part to prestigious projects such as Café Daum on Vienna’s Kohlmarkt, a renowned institution frequented primarily by aristocrats and military officers. Iconic designs such as Chair No. 4 and the even more celebrated Chair No. 14 became true archetypes of design, embodying not only a distinctly Viennese aesthetic but also a new industrial approach to furniture production and its large-scale distribution.
Thonet chairs stand out for their innovative solid beechwood bending technique, which enabled production to expand beyond the Viennese region and reach markets worldwide. Based on a modular principle, the individual components of each chair could be manufactured separately and assembled in different configurations to meet specific needs.
In 1856, the first production facilities were established in Koritchan (Moravia), followed by additional factories in Bystritz (1862), Nagy-Ugrócz (1866), Wsetin (1867), Hallenkau (1867), Nowo-Radomsk (1880), and finally, in 1889, in Frankenberg/Eder (Germany).
