www.museum-boppard.de
Michael
Thonet
was born on 2.7.1796 as son of a tanner in Boppard.
He completed an apprenticeship as cabinet maker and, at
the age of 23, established his own business as joiner and
cabinet maker in Boppard. Thonet began to produce furniture
parts such as curved chair backs from layered and veneered
wood, until he finally brought entire chairs in bent-wood
forms onto the market. He patented his invention in England,
France and Belgium. In 1841 he exhibited his layered wooden
chairs in Koblenz, where the Austrian chancellor, Prince
Metternich, who also came from Koblenz, saw them and was
amazed by them. He recommended that Thonet go to Vienna.
In 1842, his wife and 5 sons followed him.
On 16.07.1842, Thonet was granted the following 'working
privilege': "To bend any type of wood, even the driest
and most brittle kind in to whatever form or bow using chemical-mechanical
methods". In Vienna Thonet worked for the parquet manufacturer,
Carl Leistler, and created magnificent parquet flooring
and chairs for Liechtenstein palace. When the contract with
Leistler ran out, Thonet who was now 53 years old established
his own business in April producing bent-wood furniture.
Using
his No. 4 Chair, the Thonets exhibited their first contract
at a public locality: the Daum coffeehouse Vienna. At the
World Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in London Thonet
exhibited luxury furniture for the first time attracting
a lot of attention because of its originality and elegance.
He won the bronze medal. In 1855 Thonet Bros. Company attained
the silver medal at the Paris World Exhibition. He continued
to export abroad. - The bent-wood furniture could be taken
apart and was very suitable for export because of the low
transport costs. Additional factories were set up in Moravia,
Hungary and Poland. The No. 14 Chair, developed in 1859,
made from solid beech wood proved to be the most successful
model; up to 1893, 15 million pieces were produced.
In 1867 the Thonets attained the highest recognition: The
gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris. In 1869 the
'working privilege' from 1856 expired, but since he dominated
the market it was not renewed. Michael Thonet died on 3.3.1871
in the circle of his children; the 5 sons continued to expand
production.
Around the mid-1870s, the Thonets employed 4,500 workers
and produced 2,000 pieces of furniture daily - of this number
just 1,750 are chairs. After the First World War the family
business was changed to a stock-holding company. Soon afterwards,
they amalgamated with their most important competitors,
the company of Jacob and Josef Kohn. Today the Thonet Bros.
Company produces considerable amounts, including classic
models, in Frankenberg/Eder. Under the management of the
great grandson, Michael Thonets 300 employees continue the
bent-wood tradition.
