Freischwinger S 46F, Entwurf Rudolf Glatzel, 1972;
Thonet-Katalog 1972 Cantilever chair S 46F, design Rudolf
Glatzel, 1972; Thonet catalog 1972
Reihenstuhl S 360, Entwurf Delphin Design, 2000
Row chair S 360, design Delphin Design, 2000
this Berlin office-Thomas G. Wagner and Dirk Loff-developed seating
furniture series for the row and stacking chair sector. 10 First, the armchair
series S 360 was introduced. Seat and back, both made of plastic, are
mounted on a tubulär Steel frame. What makes it special is the row Con
nection, which in the true sense does not even exist. The connection is
achieved by superimposing the armrests. Over the next two decades,
Delphin Design designers in the field of stackable chairs were able, to-
gether with Thonet, to develop further product lines, such as the S 160
series, with slender plastic tubs or, optionally, plywood; 11 The series
S 260 from 2018 öfters another almost perfect row chair program.
Today, in the bicentennial anniversary year of Michael Thonet's takeover
of his father's workshop in Boppard, the classic bentwood furniture ac-
counts for not even 10 per cent, while the Bauhaus furniture-in the cen-
tenary of the founding of this school-account for approximately 25 per
cent of total revenue at Thonet in Frankenberg. The name recognition
of the Thonet brand is still very high, but over the decades the image of
the mass chair maker, whose symbol was the cafe chair, has become
that of a premium producer. 12
Gebrüder Thonet OHG and Gebrüder Thonet Vienna
As of 1853 Vienna was the location of the headquarters of the Gebrüder
Thonet Company. 13 Even after the mergers in the 1920s Vienna remained
the de facto headquarters, however as of 1945 there was no group, but
rather only individual Companies in the different countries. Under the ma
nagement of Dr. Fritzjakob Thonet chair production was once again
started in a company-owned building at the Weißgerberlände in
Vienna’s third district. 14 Fritzjakob was the eldest son of Richard Thonet,
thus a great-grandson of the Company founder. 15
Since, starting in 1948, it was considered to be certain that the former
production sites, then behind the Iran Curtain, had been definitively lost,
production was moved to a leased property for several years. In 1963,
a newly built factory in Friedberg in eastern Styria, about 100 kilometers
south of Vienna, started Operation. 16 Some designs from the 1950s and
1960s are still remarkable today, although other product lines-such as
chairs in rustic style and school furniture-were the actual “sales drivers"
at that time. Among the more sophisticated models are the designs from
architects and university professors such as Oswald Haerdtl, Roland
Rainer, Franz Hoffmann, and Karl Schwänzer.
The sales were organized through their own showrooms in Graz, Linz,
Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, and of course Vienna. No longer at Stephansplatz,
but first on Seilergasse and, as of 1971, at the Kohlmarkt. 17 That was
the original location of Cafe Daum, the coffeehouse that was the first
public institution to be furnished with the No.4 chair from Michael
Thonet after the hotel “Zur Königin von England” in Pest [Budapest] in
1859. 18 The reconstruction was planned by architect Karl Mang, who
dealt with the Thonet phenomenon early after the Second World War.
In 1965, he designed the exhibition “Bugholzmöbel-Das Werk Michael
Thonets" in Vienna, a traveling exhibition which visited many European
10 Exhib. Cat. Leipzig/Bielefeld 2014 (see note 4), 178.
11 lbid.,173.
12 Thanks to Percy Thonet for diverse information.
13 CF. Commerciai Court of Vienna: Recording of a partnership, 1853, Recording of a partnership
under Gebrüder Thonet, 1863, 146.
14 Today, the Kunsthaus Wien is located in the buildings on Weißgerberlnde (Hundertwasser Museum).
15 Obituary: Jacob Thonet with list of relatives, Mödling 1929.
16 Cf. Gebrüder Thonet, letter with message to the district magistrate’s office Hartberg, 1963.
17 After World War II, the Austrian Thonet Company also frequently sold goods from other producers,
among others, as the general representative of the Danish Company Fritz Hansen.
Cf. sales records from Thonet from the 1960s to the 1980s.
18 Cf. Letter from Michael Thonet Jr. to his friend Jakob Henrich in Boppard from 15.8.1851, in: Exhib.
Cat. Koblenz 1996, 35-49: 40.
71
