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WonderIndustrial furniture fact

Thonet's No. 14, launched in 1859, is the classic bentwood café chair. It was built from six pieces of steam-bent beech, ten screws and two nuts, with a cane seat, so it could be mass-produced, shipped in pieces and assembled where it was sold.

No. 14 chair

DesignEngineeringBusinessHistory

The story behind the card

Michael Thonet, a German-born cabinetmaker who settled in Vienna, spent years learning to bend solid wood with steam into strong curves that could be repeated exactly. That removed most of the carving and joints that made chairs slow to build, and let his company, Gebrüder Thonet, make identical parts in large numbers in factories in Moravia, in today's Czech Republic. The chair was cheap, light and tough enough for busy cafés, and Thonet's firm sold about 50 million of them between 1859 and 1930, making it the best-selling chair of its time. Because the parts could be packed tightly, chairs travelled by rail and ship to customers around the world. Versions of it are still made today.

Türkçe oku
Thonet No. 14, 1859'dan beri kafelerde gördüğümüz klasik bükme ahşap sandalyedir. Buharla bükülmüş altı parça kayın, on vida, iki somun ve hasır bir oturaktan oluştuğu için seri üretilebiliyor, sökülü hâlde gönderilip satılacağı yerde kuruluyordu.

Almanya'da doğup Viyana'ya yerleşen marangoz Michael Thonet, masif ahşabı buharla bükerek sağlam ve her seferinde aynı çıkan kıvrımlar elde etmek için yıllarca uğraştı. Böylece sandalye yapımını yavaşlatan oymaların ve birleşim yerlerinin çoğu ortadan kalktı; firması Gebrüder Thonet, bugünkü Çekya'daki Moravya'da bulunan fabrikalarında birbirinin aynı parçaları çok sayıda üretebildi. Ucuz, hafif ve kalabalık kafelere dayanacak kadar sağlam olan sandalyeden 1859 ile 1930 arasında yaklaşık 50 milyon satıldı; döneminin en çok satan sandalyesi oldu. Parçalar sıkı paketlenebildiği için sandalyeler trenle ve gemiyle dünyanın dört bir yanına ulaştı. Farklı versiyonları bugün de üretiliyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: No. 14 chair
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