Depression Era Bentwood Cafe Bistro Table and Four Chairs

This lovely, modestly scaled rattan and cane set is from in the late 1970s. Includes a small oval glass top table and two swivel chairs. Elegantly...

Unique, crudely handcrafted farm chairs, one baring the "VR" and crown stamp of Queen Victoria (May 1819 –January 1901) of England. Each retains it's ant...

Spectacular Victorian "stick and ball" era molded and sculpted rattan magazine or book holder. Large Size and expandable to hold many pieces of your favorite reading Material. Comp...

Circa 1970's Romeo Rega design for Mario Sabot dining table and 4 chairs. Lovely combination of brass, smoke glass and wicker trimmed in chrome make this set a standout in any decoru...

Late 19th century art chair with exquisitely carved floral design. Upholstered in gorgeous Art Nouveau upholstery. Rolls on wooden casters. Solid c...

Solid cast iron bistro table base. (6 available at start of listing, priced per item). By Haasbrock-Sonderguard. Once painted a blueish green color but now with a marvelous true age...

A Francois Sermijn classic mid century bistro table and chairs which all fold for easy storage. Incredible time aged patina and natural wood l...

Wrought Iron Bistro Cafe Table Available now and ready to ship is this vintage wrought iron bistro cafe table in the style of Dorothy Draper. Beau...

No. 17 dining set in bentwood and cane 'long john' chairs and table designed by Michael Thonet. Originally designed in the 1860s and produced by Thonet in the 20th century by multiple factories. Size: chairs: 57x49x96.5 seat height 46 Arm height 67 centimeter table: ø85.5 height 75 centimeter Condition: used. The lacquer has worn out on many places. The stained beech wood has discoloration. The cane in two seats is damaged. The cane in one back is damaged. One arm has a crack in a curve. Some small wood details are missing. The cane can be repaired or replaced professionally on request. Michael Thonet The development of bentwood for use in furniture is one of history’s most significant innovations in design. A range of renowned mid-century modern designers such as Alvar Aalto, Arne Jacobsen, and Charles and Ray Eames drew heavily on this technological advancement, and the success of their enduring works owes to the efforts of pioneering German-Austrian industrialist and designer Michael Thonet — founder of Thonet and widely considered the father of bentwood furniture. Bentwood furniture dates as far back as the Middle Ages, but it is the 19th-century cabinetmaker and master of parquetry Michael Thonet who is most often associated with this now-classic technique. Thonet in 1856 patented a method for bending solid wood through the use of steam, and from there, the bentwood look skyrocketed to furniture fame. He experimented with bending birch rods into rounded shapes — forming delicately seductive, curving Art Nouveau creations that were a daring departure from the heavy, hand-carved designs attributed to his contemporaries. The Boppard-born Thonet honed his carpentry skills in his father’s workshop, where he carried out experiments with plywood and modified the Biedermeier chairs that populated the studio. He received an invitation from Austrian Chancellor Prince Metternich to contribute Neo-Rococo interiors to the Liechtenstein City Palace in Vienna. From there, the cabinetmaker gained international recognition, including at London’s Great Exhibition of 1851, which featured works created by members of the Arts and Crafts movement as well as industrial products. Thonet showed a range of furniture at the fair and won the bronze medal for his bentwood chairs. He ​​incorporated his family’s company, the Thonet Brothers — or Gebrüder Thonet — with his sons in 1853. Considered the world’s oldest mass-produced chair, Michael Thonet’s ubiquitous Chair No. 14 demonstrated that his patented bentwood technology made it possible to efficiently produce furniture on an industrial scale. Often called the Coffee House chair — the company’s first substantial order was for a Viennese coffeehouse — the No. 14 remains an icon. Thonet originally designed the chair in 1859, and it is considered the starting point for modern furniture. Composed of just six parts, the chair, with its simple, lightweight design, belies its durability. The No. 14 was followed by the No. 18, or the Bistro chair, in 1867, and the 209, or the Architect’s chair, of which Le Corbusier was a fan. (The influential Swiss-French architect and designer used Thonet furniture in his Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau at the 1925 International Exposition of Decorative Arts in Paris.) The business began mass-producing furniture. By the end of the 1850s, there were additional Thonet workshops in Eastern Europe and hundreds of employees. Michael Thonet’s reputation attracted the attention of notable architects including Otto Wagner, Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Thonet’s patented bentwood technology also yielded an improvement to rocking chairs for his company — in the middle of the 19th century, Michael produced a series of rockers in which the different curved parts were integrated into fluid, sinuous wholes. Thanks to Thonet, the humble rocker acquired something unexpected: style. And bentwood furniture was embraced by a series of design greats — the innovation can be found in the seating that Josef Hoffman designed for Thonet, in the elegant Superleggera chair created by Gio Ponti and Alvar Aalto’s expressive Paimio armchair...

A bentwood table and four chairs designed by Czech architect Jan Bočan for the Czechoslovak Embassy in Stockholm. Designed in 1970 by Jan Bočan, Jan Šrámek, Zdenka Rothbauer and Jiř...

An Austrian bentwood table designed and manufactured by Thonet, circa 1900. Black legs with a natural surface to the tabletop. Measures: Height...

Lapis Lazuli pietra dura table top with mother of pearl inlay in a compass rose motif. Sits on an black aluminum base and features 4 iron chairs ...