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Adolf Loos: Cafe Museum, Wien 1899; zeitgenössische Postkarte presented by Hoffmann in 1908.® Only three exhibited models-armchair 
Adolf Loos: Cafe Museum, Vienna 1899; Contemporary postcard No. gyg which later became known as the Sitzmaschine [Sitting Machine], 
armchair No. 421, and the white-painted veranda Variation of the so- 
called Fledermausstuhl (named after the Cabaret Fledermaus) No. 729- 
were already known. 
The presence of the Hoffmann furniture designs at the 1908 Kunstschau 
made it abundantly clear that the Kohn Company had a clear lead in 
artistically designed bentwood furniture when compared to the, at that 
time, far more conservative Thonet company-and when compared to 
designers like Kämmerer and Prutscher. As the daily Neue Freie Presse 
put it: “It is a well-known fact that it was the Jacob & Josef Kohn Company 
which brought the bentwood furniture technique, which up tili then was 
known from only a few nice mass-produced articles, to an unprecedented 
peak, yes, one technique which one can rightly speak of as a relevant 
artistic style. The path from the chair made of curved wood to the works 
of modern furniture architecture produced with bentwood technology, 
as seen in the Kunstschau, was a Step as far as that from the thatched 
farmer’s hut to the New English country residence." 10 
The Situation in the Interwar Period 
The general enthusiasm for war and the confidence in achieving a quick 
victory which initially prevailed in Austria was also reflected in the acti- 
vities of the Thonet Company at the beginning of the First World War. 
The last pre-war catalog from 1911 was complemented by an extensive 
Supplement in 1915. Everything seemed to be running “as usual,” new 
models were developed in the workshop and published in the Gebrüder 
Thonet'scher Zentral-Anzeiger [Gebrüder Thonet's Central Journal], Only 
“enemy” French disappeared from the originally bilingual publication 
starting from issue No. 41. 11 In September 1915, the Zentral-Anzeiger 
announced the creation of an adjustable upholstery frame meant espe- 
9 In addition to bentwood furniture, box furniture made by Kohn, which was partly made of plywood, 
was also shown here. Early on, the Company realized that the so-called thermoplastic plywood was 
suitable not only for filling seats and backrests, but also for box furniture. Therefore, in 1890, the last 
Kohn factory started operating in HoleSov, where primarily veneer and plywood production still take 
place to this day. 
10 (No author), “Die Bilanz der Kunstschau," in: Neue Freie Presse, 15 November 1908, 14. 
11 Cf. Gebrüder Thonet'scher Zentral-Anzeiger [ZA) No. 41,1 June 1914. 
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