Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Mid-19th Century German Belle Époque Antique Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Bentwood
Mid-20th Century European Art Deco Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Cane, Bentwood
1960s European Mid-Century Modern Vintage Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Metal
Mid-20th Century Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Cane, Bentwood
Early 1900s Austrian Vienna Secession Antique Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Bentwood
1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Steel
Mid-20th Century Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Bentwood
Mid-20th Century Czech Mid-Century Modern Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Wicker, Wood, Bentwood
1970s Swiss Mid-Century Modern Vintage Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Metal
Mid-20th Century Swiss Mid-Century Modern Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Chrome
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Oak, Bentwood
1970s Swiss Mid-Century Modern Vintage Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Metal
Early 1900s Austrian Vienna Secession Antique Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Bentwood
1880s English Victorian Antique Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Bentwood
2010s Italian Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Metal
20th Century Swedish Scandinavian Modern Bentwood Rocking Chairs
Fabric, Wood, Bentwood
Antique and Vintage Bentwood Rocking Chairs for Sale on 1stDibs
Looking for an antique or vintage bentwood rocking chair?
The presence of a rocking chair stirs up our penchant for nostalgia and has the power to transform a space. The American rocker was an inelegant marriage of convenience as far as design was concerned. It would take the great German-Austrian chair maker Michael Thonet to turn the rocking chair into a work of art. Thonet manufactured chairs out of steam-bent wood, and starting in the middle of the 19th century, he produced a series of rocking chairs in which the different curved parts were integrated into fluid, sinuous wholes. From there the bentwood look skyrocketed to furniture fame.
Antique, new and vintage bentwood furniture has become very popular in interiors over the years. Today bentwood chairs, tables, sofas and pendants are receiving striking modern interpretations from makers like Thonet, which are being carried on by the next generation.
Bentwood furniture dates as far back as the Middle Ages, but it is Michael Thonet who is most often associated with this now-classic technique. Bentwood was eventually embraced by design greats ranging from Josef Hoffmann to Gio Ponti, and Adolf Loos to Alvar Aalto for its versatility, timelessness and simple elegance. Mid-century modernists Charles and Ray Eames added wooden rockers to their famous plastic shell armchair, while Danish designer Frank Reenskaug opted for teak and polished beech, introducing pops of color with small cushions (a precursor to the bold works that would follow in the 1970s and 1980s).
In the Czech Republic — home to a range of talented but unsung mid-century modern and Art Deco designers — the company TON held a bentwood furniture exhibition in Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Villa Tugendhat in recent years. TON manufactures their bentwood furniture in the same workshops where Michael Thonet set up his operations in the 1800s.
Sophisticated bentwood furniture designs include Alvar Aalto’s cantilever lounge chairs, Italian designer Luigi Crassevig’s 1970s rocking chairs — which feature cane seats — curvaceous hanging lamps and other lighting by Spanish architect José Antonio Coderch and lots more.
Find a collection of antique, new and vintage bentwood rocking chairs and other bentwood furniture on 1stDibs.
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