The Thonets received the first Orders for the 
production of parquet flooring from the English 
architect Peter Hubert Desvignes as part of 
the redesigning of the Palais Liechtenstein in 
Vienna. Desvignes realized that Thonet's 
method of bending laminated veneers for fur- 
niture components was also suitable for mak- 
ing parquet. The production was quite efficient, 
since you needed only the thickness of the ve- 
neer for the floor. So a large number of iden- 
tical parts could be obtained from a bündle of 
veneers which was several centimeters high. 
In this way Gebrüder Thonet made about 
900 square meters of parquet flooring for the 
Palais Liechtenstein in the years from 1843 to 
1846. 1 Follow-up Orders came in: The Com 
pany supplied parquet flooring for Prague Cas 
tle 2 in 1848-and in some Viennese palaces 
Thonet’s parquet floors can even still be found 
today. 3 At the World Fairs, which Gebrüder 
Thonet regularly attended, “specimens of inlaid 
floorings” 4 were always presented in addition 
to furniture until the International Exhibition in 
London in 1862. However, efforts in the early 
1860s increasingly focused on the mass 
production of furniture. With the commission- 
ing of the second factory in Bystrice pod 
Hostynem in 1862, parquet production was 
largely abandoned; later only lucrative individ 
ual Orders were still produced. 5 
1 Cf. Hermann Heiler, Von der kleinen Tischlerwerkstätte zum 
Weltindustriehaus, Brno 1926, 17. 
2 This was later moved to Schönbrunn Palace. See Michael 
Formänek, Intarsienparkett in Bugholztechnik, Michael Thonet, 
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna 2009, 42-48. 
3 An overview can be found in Formänek ibid. The heart shaped 
pattem of the parquet in the “Salle de reunion” in Palais Clam- 
Gallas is identical to that of the parquet pattern board shown right 
below. 
4 Official catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the works of industry 
of all nations, London 1851,196. 
5 For example, the parquet floor for the Palais Larisch-Mönnich was 
not delivered until 1868. (Heimo Keindl is gratefully thanked for this 
information.) 
Zwei Parkettmustertafeln Two Parquet Pattern Boards 
Entwurf Design: Gebrüder Thonet, Wien Vienna, 
um ca. 1855 
Ausführung Execution: Gebrüder Thonet, Wien 
Vienna, Werkstatt Mollardmühle Mollardmühle 
Workshop, 1850er Jahre 1850s; Furnier: gebogene 
Teile in Esche, Palisander, Nuss, Edelhölzer Veneer: 
bent parts in ash, rosewood, nut, precious woods; 
Füllflächen: Eiche; Filling surfaces: oak; Blindtafeln: 
Weichholz Solid panels: softwood; Privatsammlung 
Private Collection