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Einrichtungen von Innenräumen mit Bugholzmöbeln 
Furnishing of interior with bentwood furniture: 
Speisesaal im Kurhaus Marienberg, Boppard; Postkarte, um 1910 
Dining room in the Kurhaus Marienberg, Boppard; postcard, ca. 1910 
Kaffeehaus in St. Pauli, Hamburg; Postkarte von 1926 
Cafe in St. Pauli, Hamburg; postcard from 1926 
the first chair whose rear legs, Stiles and crest rail did not consist of a 
single continuous beech rod of approximately 220 centimeters in length. 
The rear Stiles are connected at the top with a crossbar, so that the max- 
imum length of the required wood shortens to about 90 centimeters. 
This construction increased the economic efficiency, as now shorter rods 
could be used. In the following years, this design was a model for a variety 
of models, which, as of 1888, received the thermoplastic molded “seats” 
and/or “backrests." 
Plywood 
These “seats and backrests” were components made of plywood, with 
whose production the Company began in 1877: “Of greatest importance 
was production of initially glued, perforated veneer wood seats, the 
production of which started in the Groß-Ugröcz factory in 1877 [,..].” 38 
The beginning of production correlates with Franz Thonet's visit to the 
World Fair in Philadelphia in 1876. The Company Gardner, which had 
obtained a patent for the production of chair seats from cross-glued 
veneers in 1872, showed their models there, and it is likely that it was 
there, at the latest, that Franz Thonet was introduced to the use of plywood 
for chair seats. 39 In the following years, Gebrüder Thonet increasingly 
used this material, mainly for seating furniture. While the catalogs from 
1879 and 1883 show only model No. 18 with the plywood seat and 
backrest, in the subsequent years one finds this material in an increasing 
number of models. 
The enormous importance of the introduction of veneer seats is made 
evident by the company’s history. It says about the further development, 
that: “These veneer seats have very quickly made their entrance and have 
to a large extent gradually displaced the caned seats, so that in 1914 
about 60% of the chairs produced were provided with wooden seats." 40 
At an industry Conference of bentwood furniture producers, it was finally 
stipulated “that sales of caned goods were not allowed in Czechoslovakia 
due to an almost complete lack of cane material.” 41 
While the first plywood seats and backrests were often perforated, using 
predominantly symmetrical-geometric patterns, it ultimately became pos- 
sible to “imprint" the desired style on the furniture by using the necessary 
procedures: In the time of Historicism, with motifs which gave the furniture 
a “gothic" or “renaissance-like" feel; after 1900, with floral motifs from 
the formal repertoire of Art Nouveau. At the beginning of the 20th Century, 
a more geometric repertoire of forms was also offered. Frequently, the 
so-called “stripe pattern” was found on the plywood seats, either relief- 
like or as a branddessin [burnt-in patterns]. Gebrüder Thonet wasn’t the 
only Company to use the new material, the other bentwood furniture man- 
ufacturers also used it, among others, Thonet's largest competitor, J. & J. 
Kohn, which took on the leading role in this sector at around 1900. 
Ultimately, they all recognized the economic potential implied by which 
the formal renewal of bentwood furniture in the context of the so-called 
Wiener Kunstfrühling [Vienna’s Artistic Renewal]. At the turn of the cen- 
38 Exner 4 1922 (see note. 25), 43. 
39 It is often claimed that Gebrüder Thonet invented the plywood seats at the same time as the 
American Company Gardner, “We would like to mention that the veneer seats were invented almost 
simultaneously by Thonet and Gardner in New York, as documented in the highly interesting patent 
dispute of 1880, in which Gardner's patent had to be annulled because Thonet could prove that his 
patent had been approved first.“ (Ernst Pliwa, Die industrielle Verwertung des Rothbuchenholzes: 
Eine Denkschrift, edited by a commission set up by the Austro-Hungarian Association of Wood 
Producers, Wood Traders and Wood Industrialists and the Technological Trade Museum, Vienna 
1884, 29). Thonet never filed a Claim regarding a patent against Gardner, and the annulment of 
Gardner's patent had to do with a lawsuit against Herz and others, in which all of Gardner’s Claims 
for patent infringement were ultimately dismissed. Cf. Thillmann 2018 (see note. 8), 85-91. 
40 Exner 4 1922 (see note 25), 43. 
41 Letter from Dr. Richard Thonet to Alfred Thonet from 29.1.1920. Participants in this meeting were 
Dr. Richard Thonet along with some directors on behalf of Gebrüder Thonet, Ernst Hirsch on behalf 
of Fischei and Leopold Pilzer on behalf of Mundus; Archiv Heimo Keindl. 
45