Michael Thonet (1796-1871) was a German-Austrian independent cabinetmaker in 1819. In the 1830s, Thonet began trying to make furniture out of glued and bent wooden slats. Thonet's essential breakthrough was his success in having light, strong wood bent into curved, graceful shapes by forming the wood in hot steam. The No. 14 chair is the most famous chair made by the Thonet chair company. Also known as the bistro chair, it was designed using a unique steam-bending technology, known as bentwood that required years to perfect. Thonet’s No. 14 was made of six pieces of steam-bent wood, ten screws, and two nuts. The wooden parts were made by heating beechwood slats to 100 degrees Celsius, pressing them into curved cast-iron molds, and then drying them at around 70 degrees Celsius for 20 hours. The chairs could be mass produced and disassembled to save space during transportation. With its affordable price and simple design, it became one of the best-selling chairs ever made. About 50 million of Thonet's No. 14 chairs were sold between 1860 and 1930, and Chair No. 14, today known as 214, is still produced by Thonet's factory.
References
- Alice Rawsthorn (7 November 2008). "No. 14: The chair that has seated millions". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/10/style/design10.php.
- David Raizman, History of Modern Design, Prentice-Hall
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