Thonet’s Competitors II
Fauteuil Nr. 38 Armchair No. 38
Entwurf und Ausführung Design and execution: D. G. Fischei Söhne, Niemes
Mimoh, um ca. 1890; Buche, massiv gebogen, Geflecht Beech, solid bent, cane;
MAK H 2928/1987
Sessel Nr. 41 Chair No. 41
Entwurf und Ausführung Design and execution: D. G. Fischei Söhne, Niemes Mimon,
um ca. 1890; Buche, massiv gebogen, Geflecht Beech, solid bent, cane;
MAK H 2178/1969; Schenkung Bundeskammer der gewerblichen Wirtschaft
Donation Federal Chamber of Commerce
After Gebrüder Thonet's privilege was revoked
in 1869, competing Companies soon also be-
gan to manufacture furniture using solid wood
bending technology. Initially, almost identical
copies of the Thonet models were made, but
eventually furniture with independently devel-
oped motifs on the backrests could also be
found. Both D. G. Fischei Sons and J. & J.
Kohn each created a series of furniture whose
design was based not as much on functional
aspects as on the pleasure of ornamental de
sign and at the same time demonstrated the
complete mastery of the bending process. 1 In
addition, there were a number of producers
who also followed new directions in terms of
construction: For example, the Belgian Com
pany Cambier in Ath created a special type of
leg Connection for which they procured a
patent to protect. 2 On the other hand, the
Spanish manufacturer Ventura Feliu in Valencia
tried to make their mark with two different types
of leg bracing. Another, probably also Spanish
manufacturer added the leg connection, not
as an independent component, but rather by
developing it out of the rear legs: These were
cut open and the inner part then bent so that
it could be screwed to the diagonally opposite
front leg.
1 It may be an attempt to distinguish it from the Thonet model,
comparable to the conscious “use of tumed parts to highlight a
unique product identity." CF. Jaromira Simonikovä, Introduction, in:
Ketterer Kunst Verlag, D. G. Fischei Söhne, Der Katalog von 1915,
Munich 1992, VI-XXXV.
2 German Reichs patent 68602, Berlin, 21 June 1892. (Friendly hint
from Luc Snoeckx.)
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