Design Classics
Chaise bistro Michael Thonet Design 150 years Coca Cola Alexandre Samuelsen Raymond Loewy Design 90 years Chaise Wassily Marcel Breuer - Bauhaus Design 78 years Coccinelle Ferdinand Porsche Design 70 years Design Classics
Bistro chair Michael Thonet Design 150 years
Wassily chair Marcel Breuer - Bauhaus Design 78 years Michael Thonet’s story
Michael Thonet 1796 born in Germany – Boppard District of furniture makers
25 years Starts own furniture shop
26 years Married Anna Marie Crass 12 children / 6 babies die / 5 sons work later in the business Michael Thonet’s story
1836: 40 years Spend years in innovation Bending thin layers of wood
1841: 45 years 1st patent for bending wooden sticks, but no money to pay it Meets Prince Clemens von Metternich of the Austria-Hongerian court at a sales show
« In Boppard werden Sie immer ein armes mann bleiben. Gehen Sie nach Wien, ich werden Sie bei Hofe empfehlen » Prince Clemens von Metternich Michael Thonet’s story
1842 – 1849 Works as an employee for furniture makers in Vienna
1849: 53 years The breakthrough starts!!! Company in Gumpendorf, near Vienna His sons work in this company
1851: 55 years World exhibition in London Bronze medal First large order for the United States World Exhibition in London 1851 Innovation n°1 by Thonet 1842
Simplified the technique of bending wooden sticks by using metal blades
Mass production of the bent wood Innovation n°2 by Thonet 1851
World Exhibition 1851 Assembly KIT 36 chairs / m3 Innovation n°2
36 chairs / m3
Simple Assembly KIT
Interchangeables Pieces (standardisation)
Bending massive wooden sticks 1853 Gebrüder Thonet
1871 Michael Thonet dies 74 years 4 factories Overseas Marketing
Subsidaries Vienna Paris London Berlin New York Budapest 1911 record production 1,8 million chairs
10000 employees 1400 furniture models Owns its own forests for production
1,8 million chairs 85 % export 24 sales organisations worldwide Design Classics
1930 50 millions chairs sold of the n°14 bistro chair Reasons of success
Moderate Price
Innovative manufacturing Process
Style
Overseas marketing The Corbusier 62 years later
The uniqueness of this product lies in the elegance of its conception, the precision in its manufacturing and its usefulness.
Le Corbusier, 1920 From bending wood to bending metal
Wassily chair by Marcel Breuer Mies van der Rohe Le Corbusier 1925 / 1926 1927 Marcel Breuer Mies van des Rohe Wassily armchair
Marcel Breuer 1920, student of Bauhaus Bauhaus’ workshop in 1925 Bauhaus Functionalism Standardisation Mass Production Minimaliste & pure style Inspiration Bicycle Tubular Steel = Symbol of the modern movement Thonet Wassily armchair
Production Production by the Thonet Brothers in 1928 Terence Conran / Catalogue Habitat Thonet story
Difficult times 1st world war – only production 2 days a week 2nd world war hFactory in Frankenburg was distroyed hEast European factories became state factories
The however company still exists 1989 reopening of the Frankenburg factory The bistro chair is still in production Thonet story
It started as a one Persistency man furniture Family workshop that went Good luck bankrupt in its own country, but that Talent developped into a Innovation world-wide Quality company in another Design country Design Classics
Coccinelle Porsche Design 70 years Coca Cola Samuelsen / Loewy Design 90 years
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