Much like a fine wine or the Mona Lisa, some things just get better with age…much like this classic oak bentwood & cane Josef Hoffman Prague 811 armchair by Stendig for Thonet! Talk about the ability to withstand the hands of time!! This Josef Hoffman chair was designed in 1925 but remains a current and fabulous design today. It is comprised of a gorgeous bentwood oak and cane frame, slender rounded arms, and slightly flared legs. Can’t you just imagine it behind your home office desk or at the vanity in your bedroom? Want to add a little splash of Bauhaus style to your living room? We have the perfect side or accent chair for that!! You can be sure it will complement your home with timeless and historical excellence, whatever your style!! Josef Hoffman was one of Austria’s most important architects and designers and was central to the development of art and design in Vienna. He grew up with three sisters and was nicknamed Pepo. His father was the town mayor and a successful businessman. He was a founding member of the Vienna Secession, a radical anti- historicist movement, and together with Koloman Moser created the Wiener Werkstatte cooperative workshop. A highly individualistic architect and designer, Hoffmann’s work combined the simplicity of craft production with a refined aesthetic ornament. Between 1901 and 1905, he designed four villas in Vienna and a sanatorium in Brussels that was called “Stoclet House”, for which he developed a “cubistic” language of form, with an emphasis on straight, unadorned lines. In 1905, he established the Kunstschau with painter Gustav Klimt and, two years later, founded the Deutscher Werkbund. Hoffmann worked well into his 80s, continuing to use the geometric motifs that influenced the art deco style of the 1920s. In 1928 his work appeared in the Art in Industry exhibition held at Macy’s in New York City, where it exerted a strong influence on American designer Donald Deskey. Hoffmann is one of the seminal figures in the modern decorative arts movement of the first half of the 20th century. Stendig was totally the brainchild and passion of Charles W. Stendig. You cannot write or talk about Stendig without explaining Charles. He was a pioneer of import goods in the mid- century. After serving in WWII as a paratrooper, he studied business with emphasis on international trade at NYU and City College of New York. Afterward first working for Raymor, another pioneering distribution company, for about two years, departing to start his own business: Stendig. He opened his first showroom in 1956 in midtown Manhattan. He is credited for sparking America’s interest in furniture from Finland, Switzerland, Italy, and Czechoslovakia. He imported from the likes of Thonet, Asko, and De Sede; and from iconic designers including Le Corbusier, Josef Hoffmann, Eero Aarnio, Tapio Wirkkala, Marcel Breuer, Jonathan De Pas, Donato D’Urbino, Paolo Lomazzi, Carlo Mollino, Carlo Scarpa, and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni to name just a few. By the late 1960’s, Stendig had showrooms in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco with a large headquarters in NYC. They were exciting and good times but short lived. The business was a challenge and when an offer was made by Burlington Industries to purchase, Charles agreed. He stayed on till 1976 to oversee and then retired. I have searched the internet to no avail to find out if a Stendig division is still in operation. But I can only find the Stendig Calendar, the only calendar in MoMA’s collection, which was designed for Stendig by Mossimo Vignelli, still offered. But I am having a hard time deciding who is creating and offering it. I do know Burlington Industries was bankrupt by 2001, purchased in 2003, merged with Cone Mills in 2004 and subsequently into ITG or International Textile Group. But the Stendig name reins as an icon of high style mid-century offerings. Thonet was founded by Michael Thonet. Michael was born in 1796 and was apprenticed by his father to a cabinetmaker. Shortly after he married, Michael opened his one-man cabinetmaking shop creating furniture and cabinetry in the traditional manner by carving the needed parts and then joining them together. In 1830 he began experimenting with bending wood into curved shapes and thus began a successful furniture company that has remained continually in operation for nearly 200 years. Thonet’s early work was very Biedermeier in style and not made for the common man. Gradually his designs became more Art Nouveau. In 1951 his chairs for the Crystal Palace at the London World’s Fair won a prize medal and by the late 1950s he began to make his first “consumer” chair. In 1875, a year before Michael’s death, Thonet’s five factories made 620,000 chairs. Then in 1876 after his death the company became Gebruder Thonet. But all was not roses. In 1869 the Thonet patents lapsed and by 1893 there were 52 bentwood companies in Europe. However, Thonet persevered. They branched out. They merged. They added designs by Le Corbusier and Breuer and alternative materials such as tubular chrome in place of bentwood to their offerings. Business boomed and waned through the years and there was even a Thonet revival, so to speak, beginning in the 1940s on into the mid-20th century. Till today, in the 21st century, Thonet is still a furniture company to be reckoned with almost 200 years later. We are in love with this iconic masterpiece designed by Josef Hoffman and if you are too, you need to make it yours! Price: $1,495 What a GORGEOUS set of mid-century modern chairs by Thonet!! They are comprised of Thonet’s signature long tapered bent plywood legs and are wearing a gorgeous blue chenille fabric upholstery and it’s in lovely ready-to-use condition. These chairs were made in two styles with a single connector for the backrest or double connectors…both are beautiful, but this single connector style is our personal favorite. There is an ongoing discussion among collectors and modern furniture aficionados whether this chair was designed by Bruno Weil, or BéWé as he called himself, who was principal designer at Thonet Frères in Paris between 1928 and 1933. But we have not found a definitive answer. What we do know is this is an iconic and sought-after design as it is currently available today in Thonet’s Legacy Collection. And we believe this set to be an early version of the design. They are the perfect “go anywhere” type of chair. Perfect at a dining table or game table but versatile enough to use in any room or as extra seating if unexpected company shows up. Thonet was founded by Michael Thonet. Michael was born in 1796 and was apprenticed by his father to a cabinetmaker. Shortly after he married, Michael opened his one-man cabinetmaking shop creating furniture and cabinetry in the traditional manner by carving the needed parts and then joining them together. In 1830 he began experimenting with bending wood into curved shapes and thus began a successful furniture company that has remained continually in operation for nearly 200 years. Thonet’s early work was very Biedermeier in style and not made for the common man. Gradually his designs became more Art Nouveau. In 1951 his chairs for the Crystal Palace at the London World’s Fair won a prize medal and by the late 1950s he began to make his first “consumer” chair. In 1875, a year before Michael’s death, Thonet’s five factories made 620,000 chairs. Then in 1876 after his death the company became Gebruder Thonet. But all was not roses. In 1869 the Thonet patents lapsed and by 1893 there were 52 bentwood companies in Europe. However, Thonet persevered. They branched out. They merged. They added designs by Le Corbusier and Breuer and alternative materials such as tubular chrome in place of bentwood to their offerings. Business boomed and waned through the years and there was even a Thonet revival, so to speak, beginning in the 1940s on into the mid-20th century. Till today, in the 21st century, Thonet is still a furniture company to be reckoned with almost 200 years later. Don’t let this awesome set of Thonet chairs pass you by… just make them yours!! Price: $2,995 I love this pair of reverse cantilever chairs!! They are done in the style of the renowned Bauhaus furniture designer Marcel Breuer who designed the famous Cesca chair. But we believe these to have been done in the 1970s when there was a great resurgence of the Bauhaus streamline and the Art Deco style. They are amazingly comfortable with their reverse cantilever chrome tube frames and black painted wood scoop or bucket seats with natural cane inserts. They are the perfect pair of accent chairs whether you have a mid-century modern aesthetic, industrial, modern country, rustic, Art Deco, or Hollywood Regency décor. They could be used in a living room setting, your master bedroom, home office, entry, or as host and hostess chairs in your dining room. No matter where or how you use them…you need to make them yours! Price: $1,495 Wow! I love this piece. It could easily be a coffee table or end table. It is done in the style of the renowned Marcel Breuer’s Bauhaus Cesca chair with its bent chrome tubing frame, black painted wood top with cane and glass insert. We here at the shop believe it is circa 1970s when there was a huge resurgence of the Bauhaus and Art Deco style.