Michael Thonet
Michael Thonet (born July 2, 1796 in Boppard ; † March 3, 1871 in Vienna ) was a German-Austrian master carpenter and founder of the Gebrüder Thonet bentwood furniture factory from Vienna. Thonet is considered a pioneer in furniture production and design worldwide .
biography
Thonet was the son of master tanner Franz Anton Thonet, who like his ancestors came from Andernach and moved to Boppard in 1796. After completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter, Thonet started his own business as a cabinet maker and furniture maker in 1819. A year later he married Anna Grahs. With her he had seven sons, two of whom, however, died in infancy. His six daughters did not survive childhood either.
Thonet's work was valued, and his products were also sold in the neighboring towns on the Rhine and throughout the Moselle region. From the beginning he was concerned with quality and innovation. Around 1830, Thonet began trying to make furniture from glued and bent wooden strips. In 1836 he had his first success with the Boppard plywood chair. Michelsmühle from Boppard supplied the glue required for this working method. Attempts to have his process patented in Prussia in 1840 and in Great Britain, France and Russia in 1841 failed.
At the Koblenz trade fair in 1841, Thonet made the acquaintance of Prince Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich , who was enthusiastic about Thonet's furniture. He is reported to have said to Thonet: “In Boppard you will always be a poor man. Come to Vienna. ”He invited Thonet to the court in Vienna. He accepted and was able to present his furniture, especially his chairs, to the imperial family the following year.
When the company in Boppard got into a financial crisis, its property was seized and auctioned. Thonet and his family emigrated to Vienna in 1842. At first he only made cheap chairs there for the furniture dealer Clemens List, which sold well. On his recommendation, he contacted the English architect Peter Hubert Desvignes , who recommended him to the Leistler workshop. From 1843 to 1846, Thonet worked with his sons for the Carl Leistler company on the interior of the Liechtenstein City Palace .
In 1849 he dared to work independently again and founded his own workshop, which he transferred to his sons as future owners in a partnership agreement in 1853. In the Thonet Brothers company , however, he retained top management until his death.
His chair no.1 was created as early as 1850 . At the Great Exhibition - the London industrial exhibition in 1851 - Thonet received a bronze medal for his Vienna bentwood chairs , making his international breakthrough. At the next major international performance show, the World Exhibition in Paris in 1855 , he already won a silver medal. He constantly improved his production methods and was able to open another factory in Koritschan , Moravia as early as 1856 . Extensive beech forests, which were of great importance for manufacturing, belonged to it.
Chair no. 14 , developed in 1859 - better known as consumer chair no. 14 - is still the chair of all chairs today; By 1930 about 50 million of these were produced and sold. The Thonet brothers achieved a gold medal with this design at the Paris World Exhibition in 1867 .
His wife died on January 10, 1862. Thonet buried himself even more in his work and was subsequently significantly involved in all business start-ups and new developments. According to statements from visitors and employees, he was often in his work suit on the company premises, which occasionally led to confusion. In anecdotes it is reported that when asked about company management, he always referred visitors to his sons without being recognized himself.
Emperor Franz Joseph I awarded Michael Thonet the golden Cross of Merit with the crown and the Knight's Cross of the Franz Joseph Order.
Towards the end of 1870, while visiting a forest in Hungary, Thonet caught a cold from which he never recovered. Michael Thonet died on March 3, 1871 in Vienna at the age of 75. At this time the Thonet brothers had sales outlets in Barcelona, Brussels, Bucharest, Chicago, Frankfurt am Main, Graz, Hamburg, London, Madrid, Marseille, Moscow, New York, Naples, Odessa, Paris, Prague, Rome and Saint Petersburg as well as numerous manufacturing facilities, especially in Central and Eastern Europe.
His first grave was in the Sankt Marxer Friedhof in Vienna. In 1888 Thonet was reburied in the family crypt in the Vienna Central Cemetery.
After Michael Thonet's death, the company and the bentwood furniture industry continued to grow. It was thanks to Thonet to have created a new, important industry. Around 1900, 52 companies in Austria-Hungary and outside of it were producing furniture from bent wood in more than 60 factories. In Austria-Hungary alone, this industry claimed the regular forestry use of 150,000 hectares of beech forests. Bentwood furniture was exported all over the world, and around 30,000 people found employment in this field.
In 1953 was the 22nd district of Vienna Donaustadt the Thonetgasse named after him.
Act
In 1819 a one-man business was founded, which soon became widely known for its quality work. The first systematic experiments were carried out with new processing techniques. Successful attempts at shaping with veneer layers and sticks cooked in glue followed in 1830. In 1841 there were patent applications in France, England and Belgium for the bentwood technology. Thonet took part in the exhibition of experimental work in Koblenz. The State Chancellor Prince Metternich , who himself came from Koblenz, became aware of Thonet and encouraged him to move to Vienna.
Thonet traveled to Vienna in 1842, where he obtained a patent from the kk Hofkammer Wien: "Any, even the most brittle type of wood, can be bent into any shape and curve by chemical-mechanical means." There were financial setbacks due to the expensive foreign patents applied for in 1841. Thonet took part in the “General Industry Exhibition” in Mainz and employed 20-25 workers in his workshop. After the family moved to Vienna, they began working with the Viennese furniture dealer Clemens List. The production of inexpensive chairs led to good sales. 1843 was the beginning of the collaboration with the English architect PH Desvignes.
In the years 1843–1846, the Palais Liechtenstein was furnished with parquet under the direction of Karl Leistler's workshop based on a design by PH Desvignes. In 1849, Leistler's work ended. Thonet started his own business in Vienna with his sons. His patron PH Desvignes supported him for two years with regular weekly cash advances. Café Daum on Kohlmarkt in Vienna ordered armchair No. 4 made of mahogany. The restaurant was furnished with this proverbial Viennese coffee house chair until 1876, when it was replaced in 1876 by the now mature series type No. 14. The hotel "To the Queen of England" in Pest (Buda-Pest) ordered 400 armchairs made of light ash wood.
The chair no. 4 was exhibited in the "Niederösterreichischer Gewerbeverein" in 1850 and aroused general interest. In 1851, Thonet sent the World Exhibition in London in the Crystal Palace of Joseph Paxton and received the great bronze medal - the highest award for industrial products. PH Desvignes bought exhibits for his country home in Lewisham near London. After his death in 1883, the Thonet family bought it back from the Desvignes family.
In 1852, Michael Thonet applied for a patent for his five sons: "To give the wood any curvature and shape in different directions by cutting and gluing it back together", which was extended to July 28, 1864. The first sales branch was opened in Strauchgasse, in Palais Montenuovo (Vienna). In 1853, due to lack of space, it was relocated to the Mollard mill belonging to Gumpendorf. The Thonet company employed 42 workers (nine carpenters, one wood turner, eight fournier cutters (manual operation), two glue buckets, eight rasps, two stainers, ten polishers and two screwdrivers). The cane braids were made at home. The first steam engine with 4 hp was used in production and the first deliveries were made abroad. On November 1, 1853, Michael Thonet transferred the business to his five sons: Franz, Michael, August, Josef and Jakob Thonet.
In 1854 the unofficial world exhibition in Munich was sent. In 1855 he took part in the world exhibition in Paris (with inexpensive “consumer furniture”) and got his first export orders from France and South America. In 1856 Thonet and his sons were granted Austrian citizenship. This was followed by the granting of the patent "For the production of armchairs and table legs from bent wood, the bending of which is caused by the action of water vapors or boiling liquids". This remained in force until December 10, 1869, when it ended by waiver. The company built the branch in Koritschan for the production of semi-finished products, which were assembled at the headquarters in Vienna.
In 1857 the first finished products came from the factory in Koritschan for the production of furniture that could be screwed together from individual parts for export to tropical countries. In 1858 the Vienna factory in Mollardgasse was closed. In 1859, production began with the help of new steel rails that made it possible to bend solid wooden rods precisely. Chair No. 14 was added to the program and produced in the Koritschan factory. It became the most popular model, with 50 million in production by 1930.
In 1860, Thonet patented a hub wheel with spokes, which attracted a lot of attention but was not a financial success. It was interesting for the military. But Prussia as well as England and France bypassed the patent fees by pretending to have designed such a wheel. The first rocking chair made of curved wood was produced in Korichan. It was a great sales success and replaced the heavy metal models that had previously been on the market without much success. In 1860 the Koritschan factory employed around 300 workers and produced around 200 chairs and pieces of furniture a day.
In 1861, the Thonet brothers signed a multi-year timber supply contract with the owner of the Bistritz am Hostein estate near Holleschau (Hullein northern railway station) , Ernst Freiherr von Laudon, and in 1861 they built the Bistritz factory. In 1862 he took part in the World Exhibition in London with models conceived in large series, which were a great sales success. A branch was opened in London at 16 Ludgate Hill. Thonet's wife Anna, with whom he had been married since 1820, died that year.
In 1865 a factory was built in Groß-Ugrócz, which went into operation in 1866. In 1867 a factory with a sawmill was built in Hallenkau in Wsetin.
In 1869 there was a voluntary waiver of the privilege (patent) of 1856 "On the manufacture of armchairs and table legs from bent wood, the bending of which is caused by the action of water vapors or boiling liquids".
In 1873, after Thonet's death, chair no. 4 was added to the “additional department for the history of inventions at the international Vienna exhibition”. In 1880 the largest factory to date was founded in Novo-Radomsk in Russian Poland. In 1889 a factory was founded in Frankenberg , Hesse , which is now the parent company.
In 1900 the Thonet brothers employed around 6,000 workers who produced around 4,000 pieces of furniture a day. In 1918 Thonet AG was founded. After losing World War I, competition from America and Russia came onto the market. In 1923 there was a merger with the competitor Mundus (Kohn), through which the endangered supremacy on the world market was secured. A factory in Czechoslovakia delivered around 20,000 chairs to England every month. In 1929/1930 tubular steel furniture production was started in Frankenberg.
After the war ended in 1945, the international Thonet empire broke up. The foreign company headquarters went their own way. In what was once the smallest factory, in Frankenberg in Hesse, production was resumed and is still being operated successfully today. The company museum is located there. Another museum is located in Friedberg (Styria) , where “Thonet Vienna” had a production site between 1963 and 2006.
meaning
Although the bentwood furniture is not a Viennese invention, outside of Austria the bentwood armchair is often referred to as the “Viennese armchair”. The technique of bending steamed wood was already in use in the Middle Ages. At the beginning of his working life as a carpenter, Thonet explored the possibilities of bent wood. As a result, Michael Thonet dealt with a more economical implementation of late Biedermeier furniture forms in terms of craftsmanship and dedicated himself to the perfection and industrial use of this idea. He achieved this with the help of curved veneer rinds glued together in layers. The principles of his work included a material-appropriate form finding, tool construction and industrial producibility. But it wasn't until Prince Metternich's move to Vienna in 1842 that he opened the larger market of the Austrian Empire. Initially, however, it was not the general public who recognized the value of his furniture, but primarily an expert elite.
In a consistent further development of the wood bending technique, he succeeded in 1852 in applying for a patent for the bending of laminated wood in several directions and finally in 1856 for a patent for the bending of solid wood. Thonet's furniture “in spite of the mass production always has a craft aesthetic that grows out of the faithfulness to the material, which never allowed a form that contradicted the wood in its structure and its technical conditionality.” The prototypes were constantly improved before they went into series production in the millions .
The great achievement of Thonet lies in addition to the further development of wood bending technology, above all, in his ability to implement these timeless products that are independent, accessible to a broad group of buyers and formally convincing due to their naturalness. Its aesthetics, which resulted from the fascination with a processing technique, pointed the seating furniture of that time in new directions that are still effective today.
The MAK Vienna owns a large furniture collection and shows in its permanent exhibition an overview of a hundred years of Thonet's production as well as those of the competing companies (for example the Kohn brothers and the Danhauser furniture factory ) from the 1830s to the 1930s.
Bentwood technology
While the traditional carpenter gained oscillation by sawing, planing or carving a solid block, Thonet tried to achieve this early on by bending, i.e. by deforming the rigid wood. The advantages of this procedure are cost reduction, reproducibility even by semi-skilled workers, industrial mass production, material savings (hardly any wood waste), short production time, low weight (transport, installation, export), low sales price ("consumer furniture"), durability (screwing can be retightened, stable construction ), Elasticity, beauty of form (elegant curves, clarity) and originality (recognizability, novelty).
Thonet's modern approach was hardly echoed by his contemporaries, who preferred an ornamentally overloaded and technically elaborate style. In Vienna alone around 2400 carpentry workshops were busy satisfying the historicist tastes of the time, known as the “Makart style”.
Thonet was consistent in taking advantage of the new technical and economic opportunities. His success in bending a beech rod so that it neither tears nor is excessively compressed can be traced back to study and experimentation. Only then did industrial production become possible. Early attempts with glued strips of veneer were nowhere near as suitable as the models and prototypes that were carried out prove. A table shown at the World Exhibition in London in 1851 was elaborately made from eight layers of veneer, which were also cut into eight strips, so that a package of 64 sticks was created, which, after being boiled in glue, could be bent and rambled at will. However, this method turned out to be uneconomical, as it is labor-intensive and requires great craftsmanship. In addition, the laminated wood is sensitive to moisture and therefore not suitable for export to warm and humid countries.
Bending massive rods poses problems, as the wood is subjected to tensile stress on the outer side and can therefore tear, while the inner side is subjected to pressure and is thus compressed, which can also cause the wood fibers to break and kink. Early attempts to boil the wood in a hot bath of glue did not bring the material to the required flexibility. Only several hours of steaming with the much hotter steam made the wood so flexible that it could be forced into bending templates made of cast iron with great force and also retained its shape after drying. The necessary systems and molds were created in our own workshops.
The curved blanks were finally milled round on complicated and self-designed template lathes, in such a way that they thickened and tapered in places, depending on the constructive necessity or the design intent. For assembly with screws, the milled individual pieces were pre-drilled before they went into the final treatment.
The wood of the red beech proved to be particularly suitable in the tests . It was flexible and stable, and it was also available in large quantities in Europe. The age of the tree played no role in its later use.
Industrial furniture production
Thonet started out as a carpenter with a one-man business and, together with his sons, eventually managed a company empire with branches and factories in all sorts of countries, which at times provided work for 6,000 people. The company founder has not only proven himself to be a skilled craftsman and creative inventor, but also as a successful and far-sighted businessman who, with great diligence, left behind a consistent life's work.
On the advice of Prince Metternich, Thonet relocated to Austria: "In Boppard you will always be a poor man, go to Vienna!" There he found groundbreaking contacts through the recommendations of his advocate, who were convinced of his innovations. The internationally operating company expanded within a few years.
The favorable choice of location for his later works shortened the transport routes for the wood and lowered wage costs by training unskilled workers. All Thonet chairs have been branded since 1849. Factories in Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary and Russia produced over 865,000 bentwood chairs per year.
When Thonet died, the following factories existed:
- Koritschan factory (1856) with the Buchlowitz, Butschowitz and Stfilek branches.
- Factory Bistritz (1861) with the branches Holleschau, Keltsch, Vschechowitz, Drevohostitz and Pohlitz.
- Groß- Ugrócz factory (1865) with branches Oszlány, Privitz, Skeczan, Klein-Ugrócz, Koláczna, Bart, Zsambrokreth, Chinoran and the Zsittva (Zay-Ugrócz) steam saw, and finally
- the Hallenkau factory (1868) with the Wsetin branch.
It also had its own stores in Vienna, Budapest, Brno, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Paris and London.
The exhibitions that followed the first London World's Fair in 1851 had brought Michael Thonet honors and recognitions, such as the Knight's Cross , the Franz Joseph Order, the Golden Cross of Merit with the Crown and the Mexican Guadeloupe Order.
Until 1871 the Thonet brothers received numerous awards:
- 1851 World Exhibition in London , bronze medal.
- 1854 General German Industrial Exhibition in Munich, bronze medal.
- 1855 World Exhibition in Paris , Silver Medal.
- 1862 World Exhibition in London , bronze medal.
- 1862 Lower Austrian trade association in Vienna, silver medal.
- 1864 Exhibition in Linz, large silver medal.
- 1865 International Exhibition in Dublin, bronze medal.
- 1865 Exhibition in Salzburg, Silver Medal.
- 1865 Trade and Industry Exhibition in Stettin, bronze medal.
- 1865 International Exhibition Cologne, Silver Medal.
- 1866 Agriculture and Forestry Exhibition Vienna, Silver Medal.
- 1867 Agricultural exhibition in Salzburg, silver medal.
- 1867 World Exhibition in Paris , gold medal.
- 1869 International Horticultural Exhibition in Hamburg, Silver Medal.
- 1869 International Exhibition Amsterdam, Gold Medal.
- 1869 Exhibition Altona, Golden Medal.
- 1870 Exhibition Cassel, Golden Medal.
Chair No. 4
The Café Daum (1830-1877), Kohlmarkt 6 or Wallnerstraße 2, was the first public venue that was fully equipped with chairs by Thonet since 1849th The chair type no. 4 with a backrest bent from a single piece has been the classic Viennese coffee house chair ever since. The historical significance of this decision by Ms. Daum is proven by the fact that 24 years later Thonet exhibited one of these chairs at the International World Exhibition in 1873 to demonstrate the earlier production method.
The early intention to produce luxury furniture, as it was shown at the world exhibition in London in 1851, soon proved to be inexpedient. The most sensible use of the new bentwood technology resulted in the easily transportable, light and yet stable, elegant coffee house chairs. You can find them on many old pictures, for example in the famous literary café Griensteidl , or the Café Museum set up by Adolf Loos .
Chair number 14
“In an effort to increase the circulation of the article by introducing cheaper consumer types and to make it generally accessible, the Koritschan factory created the type in 1859 which, as armchair no. 14, has become and remained the main consumer article of Thonet's industry is. ”(memorial from 1896). This simple chair established Thonet's world fame. "Chair No. 14", today model 214, is considered the traditional chair for Viennese coffee houses and is the most frequently produced seating furniture in the world, and one of the most successful industrial products of all. By 1930 the chair had already been sold 50 million times. It embodies all the advantages of the new bentwood technology: beauty of form, functionality, material savings, affordability and durability. The chair was shipped all over the world in individual parts as a flat package based on the kit principle and was only assembled on site. The bent parts were connected by screwing and not, as is usual, with glue.
The chair, the back of which is simply formed by two curved wooden rods, consists of a minimum number of parts plus 10 screws and two nuts. Michael Thonet reduced the shape and material until no further improvement was possible in order to produce it with the least amount of manufacturing effort.
Thonet chairs, especially chair No. 14, are internationally recognized as design classics. They are traded as an original replica or, with slight deviations, imitated at a lower price.
literature
- Stefan Üner: Gebrüder Thonet , in: Wagner, Hoffmann, Loos and the furniture design of Viennese modernism. Artist, client, producer , ed. v. Eva B. Ottillinger, exhib. Cat. Hofmobiliendepot, Vienna, March 20 - October 7, 2018, pp. 149–152, ISBN 978-3-205-20786-3 .
- Festschrift by the Thonet brothers from 1896 (quoted in: Albrecht Bangert, Peter Ellenberg: Thonet-Möbel . Heyne, Munich 1981)
- Albrecht Bangert, Peter Ellenberg: Thonet furniture. Bentwood classics from 1830–1930. A guide for enthusiasts and collectors . Heyne, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-453-13047-2
- Hans H. Buchwald : Form from Process. The Thonet chair . Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Cambridge, Mass. 1967
- Reinhard Engel, Marta Halpert: Luxury from Vienna II. Czernin Verlag, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-7076-0142-0
- Andrea Gleininger: The coffee house chair No. 14 by Michael Thonet. Birkhäuser, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-7643-6832-2
- Heinz Kähne: Furniture made of bent wood. A look into the collection of the city of Boppard. Boppard 2000
- Heinz Kähne: Thonet bentwood classics. An introduction to the beauty and variety of Thonet furniture. Rhein-Mosel Verlag, Briedel 1999, ISBN 3-929745-70-4
- Heinz Kähne: The Thonets in Boppard . Sutton Verlag, Erfurt 2008, ISBN 978-3-86680-368-8
- Eva B. Ottillinger (ed.): Gebrüder Thonet - furniture made of curved wood . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2003, ISBN 978-3-86680-368-8
- Brigitte Schmutzler: An unbelievable story. Michael Thonet and his chairs . Landesmuseum, Koblenz 1996, ISBN 3-205-77102-8
- Sembach, Leuthäuser, Gössel: Furniture design in the 19th century , Benedikt Taschen, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-8228-0365-0
- Alexander von Vegesack : Michael Thonet . Life and work. Munich 1987
- Alexander von Vegesack: The Thonet book . Bangert, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-925560-09-2
- Giovanni Renzi, Wolfgang Thillmann: Sedie a dondolo Thonet - Thonet rocking chairs. Silvana Editoriale, Milano 2006, ISBN 88-366-0671-7
- Natascha Lara, Wolfgang Thillmann: Bentwood furniture in South America - Bentwood furniture in South America - Muebles de madera curvada. La Paz 2008
- Wolfgang Thillmann, Bernd Willscheid: Furniture design - Roentgen, Thonet and the modern. Roentgen Museum Neuwied, Neuwied 2011, ISBN 978-3-9809797-9-5
Web links
- Entry on Michael Thonet in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
- Literature by and about Michael Thonet in the catalog of the German National Library
- THONET GmbH - Thonet, pioneer in furniture history (PDF, 179 kB)
- Thonet seating in the Museum of Applied Arts (Vienna)
- Viennese furniture Dieter Staedeli (Basel)
- thillmann-collection Wolfgang Thillmann, important private collection of Thonet and bentwood furniture
- Early documents and newspaper articles on Thonet-Mundus AG in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thonet Brothers . In: The large-scale industry of Austria . P. 326
- ↑ Thonet Brothers . In: The large-scale industry of Austria . P. 326
- ↑ Thonet Museum ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on the website of the Styrian state government on July 20, 2011
- ^ Albrecht Bangert, Peter Ellenberg: Thonet furniture. Bentwood classics from 1830–1930. Heyne, Munich 1997, p. 10.
- ^ Festschrift by the Thonet brothers from 1896
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^ Wien Historisch (Text): Wien 1, Kohlmarkt 6 - Wallenstein's Camp and the Realm of Beauty ( Memento of the original from April 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: wienhistorisch.blogspot.co.at , accessed on April 18, 2014; FN: Before 1848. At the Daum. In: Supplement to the New Foreign Journal, No. 173/1867 (Volume III), June 26, 1867, p. 13 ( unpaginated ). (Online at ANNO ). .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Thonet, Michael |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Furniture designer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 2, 1796 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Boppard , Germany |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 3, 1871 |
| Place of death | Vienna |