Michael Thonet

German-Austrian cabinetmaker Michael Thonet (1796–1871) was a pioneer of modern industrial design, transforming furniture manufacturing through his invention of the bentwood process. By using steam to bend solid beechwood into sweeping, resilient curves, Thonet moved production away from labor-intensive carving toward mass industrialization, flat-pack logistics, and accessible design. His crowning achievement is the legendary Chair No. 14 (1859), known as the "chair of chairs." Composed of just six bentwood parts, ten screws, and two nuts, it became the world’s first mass-produced icon, furnishing European Viennese cafés and modern homes worldwide. Through the company Thonet—and historical branches producing classics like TON and Gebrüder Thonet Vienna—his legacy includes the Rocking Chair No. 1, the Chair No. 209 favored by Le Corbusier, and the No. 214.