214 CHAIR

The famous coffee house chair is an icon and considered the most successful mass-produced product in the world to date: it initiated the history of modern furniture. The basis was a new technique – the bending of solid wood – that Michael Thonet developed and perfected during the 1850s, and it was the first time serial furniture production was possible. And then there was an ingenious distribution model: 36 disassembled chairs could be packed into a one cubic metre box, shipped throughout the world and then assembled on site. With its clear, reduced aesthetics, this classic has been used in a wide variety of settings for more than 150 years.