!!!Thonet, Gebrüder

Thonet, Gebrueder (Thonet Brothers), cabinetmakers, established in 
1825 by Michael  Thonet, located in Vienna from 1842, specialising in 
bent-wood furniture, developed their chair "Stuhl 
Nr. 1" in 1850. The company revolutionised the industrial 
production of chairs and seats, and maintained branches in Hamburg, 
London, and Paris from 1862. Around 1900 the company had approximately 
10,000 employees, a world-wide distribution network and international 
production sites. From 1900, bent-wood furniture was also widely used 
in public institutions (including the Cafe Museum by A.  Loos and the 
Postsparkasse by O.  Wagner) in Vienna. Through mergers with other 
companies (Thonet-Mundus Group until 1939), Gebrueder Thonet developed 
into one of the largest furniture manufacturing groups in the world. 
The company was reorganised after 1945. In 1976 the group was split up 
into one German and one Austrian company, now under the name of 
"Gebrueder Thonet-Vienna". Today (2000) the production 
plant, with about 130 employees, is located in Friedberg (Styria), 
headquarters of the management are located in Vienna. In 1999 turnover 
amounted to ATS 180 million; the company focuses strongly on 
export (EU states, Japan, USA). Since 1996 owned by the Mellinghoff 
family of Bad Homburg, Germany.

!Literature
A. Bangert, Thonet-Moebel - die Geschichte einer grossen 
Erfindung, 1981; K. Mang, Thonet-Bugholzmoebel, 1982; A. v. 
Vegesack, Das Thonet-Buch, 1987; A. Bangert and P. Ellenberg, 
Thonet-Moebel - Bugholz-Klassiker von 1830-1930, 1993.


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