Bentwood and Beyond: Thonet and Modern Furniture Design

Hardcover | 24.89 x 3.05 x 31.75 cm | 304 pp

Birkhäuser | 2020 | 9783035620474

The bentwood furniture developed by Michael Thonet made style history and served as the foundation of one of the world’s most successful furniture brands. At the end of the 1920s, Thonet also entered the tubular steel furniture business, which continues to be an important pillar of the company’s production to this day.

A chronological overview of Thonet furniture is complemented for the first time by embedding the works in the technological, typological, aesthetic and historical development of furniture design.

Complemented by loans from international collections, the book shows more than 300 exhibits, most of which have been newly photographed for this book.