Online Thonet Archive

Project Manager: Sebastian Hackenschmidt, Curator, MAK Furniture and Woodwork Collection, and Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel, Head, MAK Library and Works on Paper Collection/Archive in cooperation with Wolfgang Thillmann

After the major exhibition BENTWOOD AND BEYOND: Thonet and Modern Furniture Design, presented by the MAK in 2019/20, and the subsequent uploading of the entire bentwood furniture collection, the first large-scale research platform dedicated to the Thonet company is now planned. Besides the posters created between 1859 and 1873 and the company’s sales catalogs printed from 1879 into the interwar period, the Thonet Brothers’ “Zentral-Anzeiger” [Central Gazette], published from 1903 to 1916 and from 1920 to 1923, will be made available to the public via the MAK’s website. The MAK’s Thonet research platform will thus constitute the main resource for both specialists and members of the general public interested in the historical development of bentwood furniture.

Gebrüder Thonet, Chair, Model N0. 14, Vienna, 1859 (Execution: 1890–1918)© MAK/Georg Mayer

Josef Hoffmann, Chaise longue, Model No. 670 “Sitting Machine,” Vienna, ca. 1905© MAK/Georg Mayer

Gebrüder Thonet, Chair, Model No. 8, Vienna, ca. 1860© Wolfgang Thillmann/MAK

MAK Exhibition View, 2019BENTWOOD AND BEYONDThonet and Modern Furniture Design MAK Exhibition Hall© MAK/Georg Mayer

Online Thonet Archive

MAK Collection

Furniture and Woodwork Collection

MAK Collection

Library and Works on Paper Collection

Publications

Bentwood and Beyond

Gebrüder Thonet, Chair, Model N0. 14, Vienna, 1859 (Execution: 1890–1918)
© MAK/Georg Mayer

Josef Hoffmann, Chaise longue, Model No. 670 “Sitting Machine,” Vienna, ca. 1905
© MAK/Georg Mayer

Gebrüder Thonet, Chair, Model No. 8, Vienna, ca. 1860
© Wolfgang Thillmann/MAK

MAK Exhibition View, 2019
BENTWOOD AND BEYOND
Thonet and Modern Furniture Design
MAK Exhibition Hall
© MAK/Georg Mayer