THONET
Das
futuristische
Sita- and Tisch
programm für
das Jahr 8000.
A contract-
I program for
I the year 8000
Stuhlserie Thondo, Entwurf Ernst Beranek, 1979; Thonet-Katalog
1982 Chair series Thondo, design Ernst Beranek, 1979; Thonet
catalog 1982
the 1860s, with the leg brace. 22 In this series more relaunches followed;
the so-called Viennese chair, No. 6009, which was used by Le Corbusier
in many of his buildings in the 1920s, and also the very elaborately ma-
nufactured chair called “Cafe Museum,” designed by Adolf Loos. 23 Otto
Wagner’s chair, armchair, and stool for the Austrian Postal Savings bank
in Vienna were also produced again. 24
But they also sought new designs. In 1993/94, a cafe-restaurant was
installed in the premises of the MAK-Museum of Applied Arts-in Vienna.
The planning was carried out by the famous architect and designer
Hermann Czech. He designed a bentwood chair and armchair for this
location, both of which are still in production today. 25
Since there was discord within the Thonet family in Vienna in regard to
the further financial management of the Company and no agreement was
reached, a German investment Company was able to acquire the majority
of shares in Thonet Vienna. The Thonet family withdrew from operative
business. After a not very Creative and financially dubious interlude, the
Company was finally sold to the prestigious upholstered furniture manu-
facturer Poltrona Frau in 2001.
In the 1980s, one had worked well together with this internationally re-
cognized Italian Company, but the partners from that time were no longer
in the Company or no longer actively operating. New models were sup-
posed to be developed in Italy, but none of these chairs reached the
point of mass production. The Italian managers, who were always dis-
missed quickly, unfortunately didn’t know what to do with Thonet.
By 2006, Poltrona Frau’s project with Gebrüder Thonet Vienna had failed.
The Friedberg factory and the showrooms in Austria were closed and
the Company headquarters moved to Turin. For the first time in its history
Gebrüder Thonet Vienna was a furniture Company without its own pro
duction. This was followed by a so-called manager buyout. Franco
Moschini, the former President of Poltrona Frau, was now responsible
for the Company. The current design Company calls itself GTV Viennese
Design due to the fact that it lacks the trademark rights to the name
“Thonet". The current collection consists of the classic models of the
Austrian era and ambitions attempts to create Contemporary bentwood
design.
The Situation in Czechoslovakia and Poland after 1945
Düring the Second World War, representatives from the National Socialist
Party took over the management of the factories located in Moravia and
Slovakia. After the war, these factories were confiscated as “German
property.” For large Companies, the new ownership was immediately re-
organized by the state, with no regard for valid contracts. The same was
done with the landowners and forestry enterprises. Starting in 1948, the
“nationalization” took place. The socialist central administration in Prague
carried out many restructurings and mergers, whereby the commodity-
producing enterprises, such as forestry, were separated from the pro
duction and distribution.
The factories in Groß-Ugröcz and Vsetin had stopped producing bent
wood already in the Interwar Period, while Korycany and Halenkov stopped
after the Second World War, although there was virtually no war damage
in these factories. Bystrice, Gebrüder Thonet’s second factory, was
22 Wolfgang Thillmann, Perfektes Design Thonet No. 14, Bielefeld 2015, 54.
23 Jiff Uhlir, Vom Wiener Stuhl zum Architektenmöbel. Jacob & Josef Kohn, Thonet und Mundus
Bugholzmöbel vom Secessionismus bis zur Zwischenkriegsmoderne, Vienna i.a. 2009, 74ff.
24 Christian Witt-Dörring, Otto Wagner Möbel, Vienna 1991,20ff.
25 Exhib. Cat. Venice/Klagenfurt 1991: 13 Austrian Positions, 49.
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