Double curved wood mirror coat rack by michael thonet gebrüder / freres, 1888

Certainly the most beautiful coat rack produced by the viennese maison thonet gebrüder (brothers) in the 19th century. Double coat rack, umbrella stand and mirror at the same time, made of bent and heat-bent beech wood. Model no. 1 rare and in superb condition, designed by michaël thonet in 1888 (see photos). Kept dry, perfect and unstretched volutes, original screws and caps. Biography: michael thonet is a german-austrian cabinetmaker and industrialist born in 1796 in boppard and died in 1871 in vienna. He was one of the first to industrialize the production of bentwood furniture in the 19th century, a revolutionary process. Michael thonet created a small furniture company in 1819 and experimented with assemblies and ways of bending wood. In 1851 he decided to create a new company, and developed the emblematic bistro chair no. 14, commissioned by anna daum, director of the daum café, who dreamed of "practical, elegant and space-saving chairs". It was a success, orders came in very quickly, and thonet decided to mass produce no. 14; it will become his first industrial model and will make him successful, even bearing his name. In 1851, at the universal exhibition in london, thonet received the bronze medal. In july 1856, the factory moved to koryčany in moravia, a region very rich in beech forests, also allowing it to employ cheaper labor. The factory employs 300 workers and produces 200 pieces of furniture per day. He opened a second location in bystřice pod hostýnem. When he died in 1871, his company had six factories in europe, which supplied 14 sales stores around the world, paris, chicago, new york... When the patents expired, thonet would be copied (kohn frères, cambier, fisher... ) the thonet company and the kohn company will publish for great designers and architects such as josef hoffmann, gustav siegel, le corbusier, koloman moser, marcel kammerer, otto wagner, anton lorenz, josef urban, adolf loos...

Ref. : KAFGFS94