I wasn’t aware of it, but there is an Australian Thonet company Thonet Australia Pty Ltd which I found through Infolink Com Au
Since 1979, Thonet has been bringing a proud tradition of furniture design and innovation to Australia through its distribution of Thonet bentwood chairs, produced in original factories established in 1880 by the Thonet family. Our collection extends to other leading European manufacturers such as Amat-3, Tolix and De Sede. We also carry locally produced tables and soft seating for hospitality, commercial and domestic use.
Federica Cavallin made this model of Gerrit Rietveld’s 1919 Kinderstoel (Child or Baby Chair) as part of her study.
I post this chair as a tribute to my father. This was one of his favorite chairs. You don’t need cushions for a comfortable seating. It kept you for hours uninterruptedly very comfortably, even when you are tall (I am 6′4, or 1.90 m). That is a sign of good design.
With his love of natural materials and his deep understanding of the need for furniture to be functional as well as beautiful, Hans J. Wegner (1914–) made mid-century Danish design popular on an international scale. He began his career as a cabinetmaker in 1931 and subsequently entered the Copenhagen School of Arts & Crafts. After receiving his architectural degree in 1938, he worked as a designer in Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller’s architectural office before establishing his own office in 1943.
With more than 500 different chair designs Wegner is the most prolific Danish designer to date. His international breakthrough and greatest sales success came in 1949 when he designed the Round chair. The American magazine Interiors featured the chair on the cover and referred to it as “the world’s most beautiful The American magazine Interiors featured the chair on the cover and referred to it as “the world’s most beautiful chairâ€. The chair rose to stardom when used in the televised presidential debates between Nixon and Kennedy in 1960 and has since been known simply as “The Chairâ€.
The real beauty of Wegner’s genius must be seen in context with his collaboration with master cabinetmaker Johannes Hansen. The attitude with which Johannes Hansen accepted the young designer’s ideas was the perfect combination between designer and craftsman. Their collaboration went on for many years, and they presented their work at the Cabinetmaker’s show every year from 1941–1966.
I thank the reader who entered the search term “graphic designer chair sore legs” into Google today and clicked here. That gave me the idea to post the #1 Google search result for that search term of today: KneelSit.com.
For lower back pain there are of course other solutions as the sit ball or simply following Pilates lessons as I try to do myself:-)
In the same line as the previous post a classic rocking chair for the boy’s room with built in Ipod docking station cum speakers. For $399.- yours by PB Teen shop
Time for fun. Browsing around I hit upon this non – chair: The Ipod Chair Man. It is a gadget to seat and to hold your Ipod with speakers in the feet.
I found it at the Dutch Gizmodo, Gadgets Blog.
Reportedly only for sale in Japan yet.
A chair lover shouldn’t be without this book.
In 1991 Philippe Starck designed a fantasy office environment for German film director Wim Wenders (look here for Wim Wenders’ official site). One element of this environment, the WW Stool, is now in production in small series by Vitra. The filigrain design is more a sculpture that it can be used as a stool. It may serve as support for users who prefer to stand rather than an item of furniture intended to be purely functional.
Material: varnished sand-cast aluminum.
Functionalfate.org – Jens Thiel’ Monobloc Plastic Chairs Weblog was a blog I saw already around when I was playing with the idea of starting my own Blog devoted to Chairs, Chair Design, Chair Designers and Chair Manufacturers. Jens is addicted to the monobloc plastic chair:
His credo is:
practical / inexpensive / ecological / lightweight / washable / warm / sturdy / clean / weatherproof / inconspicuous / comfortable / stackable / smooth / airy / contemporary / ubiquitous / pragmatic MONOBLOC PLASTIC CHAIRS
His aim is collecting plastic chairs and work on an extensive illustrated monograph (partly to be seen in an article of ArtReview), to establish a museum exhibition and a documentary feature about this most successful and most hated furniture of all human creation: the monobloc plastic chair. He warmly invites everybody to contribute photos, stories or even chairs.
Well Jens, contact me: I have some of those for you:-)
Coming to think of it: This much hated monobloc plastic chair could be an excellent attribute for the Little People A tiny street art project Blog.
Yes, I am fascinated by the Thonet History!
I copied this short history time line from the German Thonet Factory’s site:
- 1796 Company founder Michael Thonet was born in Boppard am Rhein, Germany.
- 1819 The Thonet firm was founded in Boppard am Rhein.
- 1842 Prince Metternich called Michael Thonet to Vienna where Thonet played a leading role in the fitting out of Palais Lichtenstein and Palais Schwarzenberg.
- 1853 Michael Thonet handed over the business to his five sons: the company Gebrüder Thonet was registered.
- 1856 The first furniture factory was founded in Korycany (Moravia); five further production plants in Eastern Europe were opened in the years that followed.
- 1859 The consumer chair Thonet No. 14 (today: No. 214…in Germany) reached the production stage.
- 1889 Founding of the factory in Frankenberg/Eder as the first production plant in Germany.
- 1912 Highest production level of 2 million articles per year.
- 1923 Merger to become Thonet Mundus.
- 1929 Takeover of Marcel Breuer and Kálmán Lengyel’scompany Standard Möbel and purchase of the rights to designs by Marcel Breuer.
- 1931 Production start for the first cantilevered chair S 43 by Mart Stam.
- 1938 Thonet Mundus shares bought back by the Thonet family.
- 1945 Dispossession from the facilities in Eastern Europe and destruction of the Thonet building in Vienna; bomb attack on the facility in Frankenberg.
- 1945-1953 Factory in Frankenberg rebuilt by Georg Thonet.
- 1953 Thonet exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.
- 1961 The Federal Court of Justice confirms Mart Stam’s artistic copyright of the cantilever chair
- 1989 Opening of the Thonet Museum in its current form.
I have followed the development of the website over quite some years now, but finally it is getting better and better only recently.
In addition it is interesting to know that the Austrian Firm has been acquired by Poltrona Frau, the Italian chair manufacturer, who do less and less with their web presence.
