Two Laminated Tables 
Salontisch Nr. 1 Salon Table No. 1 
Entwurf Design: Gebrüder Thonet, Wien Vienna, um ca. 1855 
Ausführung Execution: Gebrüder Thonet, Werkstatt Mollardmühle Mollardmühle 
Workshop / Fabrik Koritschan Korycany Factory, nach after 1855; Buche, massiv 
gebogen und verleimt, Eiche; Beech, solid bent and laminated, oak; Tischplatte furniert 
veneered tabletop; Thonet Frankenberg 
The laminated veneer technique made it pos- 
sible to manufacture curved components for 
all types of furniture faster, more durable, and 
more economically than traditional methods 
of craftsmanship. An example of this is the 
classicist table by Jean-Joseph Chapuis. 1 
While the design of the frame, base plate, and 
the gold plated bronze applications meet the 
Standard of high-quality furniture of the time, 
the legs are executed using a completely new 
technology: Twenty-seven walnut veneers 
were bent to form a c-shaped table leg. 
Natural-colored and black-colored veneers are 
arranged alternately; the top and bottom of 
the table legs are covered with mahogany 
veneer. The natural-colored veneers are not 
uniformly strong, but are rather tapered from 
approximately 3.5 millimeters to just one milli- 
meter directly under the frame. However, the 
thickness of the black-colored veneers of ap 
proximately 0.5 millimeters is maintained 
throughout. 2 In contrast to Chapuis’ furniture, 
the Thonet table is supported by four identical 
feet, each consisting of four individually bent 
and subsequently glued wooden strips. 
Michael Thonet used this procedure in the 
years from about 1855 to 1861; as with his 
chairs, he used thin wooden strips of increas- 
ing or decreasing thickness depending on the 
radius to be bent. By 1861/62 he had devel- 
oped his method so farthat all parts could be 
bent massively. 
1 An earlier table, presumably made in France, which also has laminated 
components, is shown in: Thillmann, Schichten, Munich 2018, 20 f. 
2 Cf. ibid., 22 ff. 
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