Michael Thonet was born on 2 July 1796 in Bopard-am-Rhein , Prussia (present day Germany).
Quite fittingly he started life near the start of the industrial revolution. He would go on to form a company and pioneer mass production, both attributes of this new industrial era.
He trained as an apprentice cabinet maker in his home town. After his apprenticeship, he began almost immediately to experiment with bentwood and veneers in furniture. In 1842, Thonet was invited to Vienna by the Chancellor of Austria to do some of the furniture for the Palais Liechtenstein . His work was still very experimental at this point but displayed an innovative spirit which attracted the Chancellor. Despite being invited to become the official furniture designer to the throne of Austria, Thonet chose to remain independent.
He had set his sights on a larger audience. Thonet set up his own company in the furniture trade, Gebrüder Thonet, with his five sons and apprentices in the furniture trade in 1853. By 1856, he had perfected his technique and prepared for mass production through opening his own factory in Vienna. He designed the factory himself. Success quickly followed, so much so that [Thonet]] soon had to open another factory. This time the factory was located at Koritschan, in the modern day Czech Republic. This factory was situated close to a large beechwood forest, as well as a supply of cheap labour. Moreover, Thonet had streamlined his process even more by this time, reducing production costs all the way through his process. The beechwood forest eliminated the need for costly wood importation.
Although Michael Thonet died in 1871, his designs and production process lived on however, with his sons. By 1913, Gebrüder Thonet employed 6,400 workers and produced 1.8 million pieces of furniture a year. One chair, the #14 bistro chair alone sold 40 million copies between 1859 and 1939.
Thonet's process of production dictated his furniture design. Other designers and producers of his time were using flat wood, with many joints, often ornately hiding the joints through carving and veneers. Thonet focused his work on bending wood. Around the early 1840s, Thonet's process was limited. At this time the only wood bending was used in ship construction. This involved the application of heat and water while the piece was secured in a jig. This process was rarely used in furniture as the wood could not be bent substantially. Thonet began by using thin wood veneers, which are more flexible than solid pieces. He would glue several of these together and place the piece in a jig to dry. This allowed a great level of flexibility in design, but was labour intensive, requiring great care while jigging. Thonet was also limited to bending the wood along only one plane. He experimented further by cutting the already set veneers in another direction, and bending them again, as well as varying the dimensions of the veneers used to try for the maximum in bendablity. Still, costs were too high, and the process too complex for mass production. By the mid 1840's Thonet started twisting his laminated pieces, allowing them to be bent in multiple directions. The wood then is rasped to give a round or oval cross section. Once forms were made, this process lead to the first mass production by Thonet.
Thonet's experiments continued however, both out of a innovating spirit, and as well as a new economic reason. Thonet's works began to be exported to the Americas, and it was found that the glues used in the veneer process were dissolving in hot, wet tropical climates. After a long period of experimentation, Thonet discovered the solution. A metal strap was secured on one side and both ends of a solid piece of wood. Then both the metal frame and wood were bent as one piece, in a single operation. The metal strap would stretch marginally, thereby forcing all the fibers of the wood to compress and not crack. This solution further streamlined the process, reduced costs, production time, and opened a new market, all in one move.
Not only did Thonet innovate in his bentwood, but also his assembly process. Through the use of bentwoods, Thonet eliminated many of the joints in traditional furniture. This gave greater strength to the piece using less material, as well as reducing the amount of fasteners needed. Furthermore, Thonet's furniture jigs created pieces so accurately time and time again, that his pieces were interchangeable.
The impact of Thonet was extraordinary and far reaching. Thonet affected the business of furniture, the avant-garde art establishment, and the design process of many products, from his own day to the present. Thonet developed the mass production techniques of bentwood furniture, but was not the only one to employ them. Soon after his original patents expired, plenty of imitators emerged. In the 1890's over 50 bentwood furniture makers were in business, however none were able to challenge Thonet's dominance of innovation. As far as production numbers, his #14 bistro chair remains one of the most produced chairs in history, still being produced today by Gebrüder Thonet.
With figures like this, his business impact was an amazing success. Artistically he also impacted greatly. From the art nouveau appearance of his rocking chairs, to the modernist simplicity of the #14 bistro chair, he was far ahead of his time.
Despite the resemblance to later artistic movements, Thonet allowed his process and market to drive his design, but that is not to say that these later movements did not draw upon his work. Auguste Renoir sketched out a Thonet rocking chair in 1883. Toulouse Lautrec, an art nouveau era artist, used Thonet furniture in the background of many of his works. Pablo Picasso had a Thonet in his studio. Finally, the Swiss modernist architect Le Corbusier used Thonet furniture extensively in his early buildings, stating how thoroughly they represented the modernist concepts of economy, durability and humbleness. In every era to follow, Thonet's work has remained a work of art, yet also accepted by the mainstream public.
References
- Buchwald, Hans H. Form from Process - The Thonet Chair. Cambridge: Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 1967.
- Danko, Peter. Thoughts on Thonet - "Fine Woodworking" January/February 1985: 112-114.
- Del Ducca, Giuseppe. Michael Thonet. 9 November 1999. [1] (11/9/99)
- "Galerie Thonet." Galerie Thonet. 8 November 1999. [2] (11/8/99)
- Labelart WebPage design. Thonet Vienna-Chair No. 14. 9 November 1999. [3]
- Reider, William. Antiques: Bentwood Furniture. Architectural Digest August 1996: 106-111.
- Thonet. American Craft December 1990: 42-45.
- Thonet. Gebrüder Thonet GmbH. (11/9/99)
