You used to sit and dream of fame and billions - so that Hottabych suddenly flew in on a magic carpet and gave either money, or a ready-made and carefully calculated start-up with willing investors. But it’s not in vain that they say: “He who seeks will always find.” Opportunities to increase your capital, in fact, are before our eyes. You just need to be able to combine history and modern technology.
In my opinion, the most excellent example illustrating these words is … the Viennese chair! But this is an ordinary, familiar chair for us.
Since ancient times
The technology of making household items from bent wooden rods has been known since ancient Greece. But only one person guessed to apply these skills and knowledge to the manufacture of a piece of home furniture - such a trivial chair now. This man was Michael Thonet, a Viennese cabinetmaker.
At the beginning of the 19th century, he was the first to make traditional Viennese chairs. The first copies were made by the master himself, and his sons and apprentices helped him. But, having won recognition and awards at the London Exhibition in 1851, Thonet finally set up mass production of much-needed, comfortable and affordable furniture for the home, and sales began towholesale.
Moreover, the chair was sold unassembled and consisted of six parts. This is the legendary model number 14. Compactly packed, the chairs were convenient and cheap to transport, which contributed to their popularity outside of Austria-Hungary.
Coffee shop chair
But the first major customer for Viennese bentwood chairs was the Daum Cafe in the center of Vienna in 1849. This model has become a classic and is still called the Daum Cafe Chair. Seeing the convenience and durability, appreciating the cheapness of Michael Thonet's product, the owners of Viennese cafes and restaurants began to buy chairs of this model. In addition to bent wood, embossed plywood and a mesh of Viennese straw woven in a special way were used in the manufacture.
Further, the models became more and more comfortable - they began to make Viennese chairs with soft backs and seats, with armrests also made of bent beech rod.
In less than 100 years, the company's branches around the world have produced more than 50 million chairs. The Gebrüder Thonet catalogs consisted of drawings and more than 1,200 photographs of a Viennese chair and various models of beech beech furniture.
Supply – demand – competition
production. Although browsing the first catalogs with their products took only a couple of minutes.
Jacob & Josef Kohn were able not only to adopt the technology of manufacturing wooden Viennese chairs, but improved it, expanded the range of bent wood interior items, the list of materials used, and began to attract professional architects. It was they who were the first to produce products in the Art Nouveau style.
It is even said that there was even a case when a Viennese chair was thrown from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and it remained completely intact, apart from a couple of scratches. Who among modern furniture makers will dare to demonstrate the quality of their products in such a decisive way?
Viennese phenomenon in the Russian Empire
At the beginning of the 20th century, there were about 20 factories in Russia producing bentwood furniture, including the famous Viennese chair. Russian handicraftsmen also earned money by manufacturing and selling this sought-after interior element. They began to use not only beech. Oak, birch, maple, ash, mountain ash, popular in our country, were used.
In 1870, the Polish company "Wojciechow" quite actively entered the Russian furniture market with a proposal of chairs made of steam-bent wood and quite successfully existed until 1917. But only Viennese chairs made by the Brothers Tonet were supplied to the Russian Tsar's court.
After the October Revolution, all the warehouse stocks of Viennese furniture makers dispersed to newly formed institutions, canteens, cafes and newly formedcommunal apartments. The life of the Viennese chair continued on a new round of Russian history.
Until now, these restored classic chairs can be purchased either by accident due to the ignorance of the former owners of the true price, or at auctions where the price of one rarity starts from 8,000 rubles.
Sustainable and beautiful without frills
Viennese chair is a piece of furniture that will always be relevant. Materials, forms will change, but the manufacturing principle and design features will be preserved for centuries. And this is not just pathos. Few people want to sit on an uncomfortable bench or carry a bulky chair of the 18th century model from place to place before the arrival of guests. Why torment your body, which asks for warmth and comfort, if there are beautiful Viennese upholstered chairs. You sit and gratefully remember the one who invented this ergonomic miracle.
It is worth going to any cafe, bar, restaurant, bank office, neighbors, fly to the other end of the country, to another continent to see all the same Viennese chairs, but made of modern materials, with new design delights. The colors in which the chairs are painted have become especially diverse. But, as before, the color of natural wood - from dark to light shades - is the most popular. Wood colors will suit any interior, such chairs will be appropriate in the office, and in the dining room, and in the living room.
Topical pricing issues
The spread of bent furniture around the world has been and remains triumphant. There are still fewwhich of the furniture makers managed to anticipate the era so much with their invention. Well, except perhaps modern transformers, which, however, were expected. Now designers are striving to bring fantasy to life in the most incredible ways. And often they succeed, but the price itself becomes fantastic.
But Michael Thonet did the exact opposite. From an expensive piece of furniture, initially available only to very solvent gentlemen, he created a chair that even people with a very average income bought. As they say, the topic is for newfangled designers to think about.
Loy alty to tradition
Modern models are not much different from the first chairs. In stores, catalogs of manufacturers, of which there are many, and they successfully diversify the assortment, the choice is large. Here you can also find a metal Viennese chair for a high-tech interior or a chair with high legs for a bar; rocking chair made from bent wooden rods of various woods, a cute and comfortable Viennese chair.
A wide range of modern materials is also used - plastic, metal alloys, natural leather and its substitute, and fabrics are used for upholstery.
It is difficult to immediately navigate the variety of proposals and choose what fits perfectly into the modern interior of an apartment or a country house. Buy a classic bent beech Viennese chair - the right decision!
