Did someone say Thonet?? Yes, we sure did!! This is a fabulous labeled Thonet cantilever barstool circa 1980’s. It is in the style of the model SS33 Bauhaus cantilever chair designed in the 1930’s for Thonet by famed designer Anton Lorenz. The chair design was later adapted to create this wonderful barstool! It is comprised of a chrome tube cantilever frame, black block stabilizers on the base, and white vinyl seats and back rests. A simple, stunning, and oh-so-comfortable design! It is the perfect stool for your kitchen, bar, or rec room whether you live in a Bauhaus or mid-century modern home, an industrial loft, or Art Deco style home. It’s a classic, sleek style that has stood the test of time!! If you’ve been searching for a barstool or just the right extra seating, this stool is exactly what you’ve been looking for!
Thonet was founded by Michael Thonet. Michael was born in 1796 and was apprenticed by his father to a cabinetmaker. Shortly after he married, Michael opened his one-man cabinetmaking shop creating furniture and cabinetry in the traditional manner by carving the needed parts and then joining them together. In 1830 he began experimenting with bending wood into curved shapes and thus began a successful furniture company that has remained continually in operation for nearly 200 years. Thonet’s early work was very Biedermeier in style and not made for the common man. Gradually his designs became more Art Nouveau. In 1951 his chairs for the Crystal Palace at the London World’s Fair won a prize medal and by the late 1950s he began to make his first “consumer” chair. In 1875, a year before Michael’s death, Thonet’s five factories made 620,000 chairs. Then in 1876 after his death the company became Gebruder Thonet. But all was not roses. In 1869 the Thonet patents lapsed and by 1893 there were 52 bentwood companies in Europe. However, Thonet persevered. They branched out. They merged. They added designs by Le Corbusier and Breuer and alternative materials such as tubular chrome in place of bentwood to their offerings. Business boomed and waned through the years and there was even a Thonet revival, so to speak, beginning in the 1940s on into the mid-20th century. Till today, in the 21st century, Thonet is still a furniture company to be reckoned with almost 200 years later.
Anton Lorenz was known as the man behind the Bauhaus’ “machined aesthetic.” He was born in Budapest in 1891, became a teacher, and later married an opera singer, and entered a lock manufacturing business. They relocated to Berlin in the early 1920’s. in Berlin he met architects Marcel Breuer and Kalman Lengyel who were both associated with Bauhaus in Dessau. Breuer became the first designer to construct furniture out of tubular steel, joined forces with Lengyel and found a manufacturing company and Anton Lorenz became manager. He was business savvy and obtained patents to establish a network of rights for new tubular steel furniture and would go on to do the same for Desta and Thonet who dominated the industry. In 1939 Lorenz emigrated to the United States where he established the design technology for the well-known recliner. He developed his own design in 1940 called the BarcaLounger and later partnered with Morris Futorian and created the Stratalounger. The Vitra Design Museum holds some of his patented designs and inventions on display.
Superior quality, versatility, and a reputation with an elite designer and manufacturer… This cantilever barstool by iconic designer Anton Lorenz for Thonet has it all! Don’t wait, make it yours!!
