Part of a great European history that brings tradition and innovation together, renewing its style lines through continuous project research and protagonist in the critical passage from craftsmanship to industry, thanks to an approach which anticipates modern design, Thonet has contributed to the definition of the visual grammar of contemporaneousness. Invited by Metternich to develop his own patent in Austria, Michael Thonet left Germany in 1842 and settled in Vienna, where he founded the “Gebrüder Thonet” company in 1853, involving his five children in the company. The steam bent wood technique allows the production of wood furniture on a larger scale, determining the product positioning on a global scale: in 1865 Gebrüder Thonet had 22 single-brand company stores throughout the world, with over 6,000 employees. In 1911, the company catalog contained 980 different products and at the end of the Second World War independent production units in various countries were created.
In Austria, the home market of Gebrüder Thonet, the business was rebuilt by descendants of Michael Thonet, including his great-grandson Fritz Jakob Thonet as well as Fritz Jakob’s children Evamarie Thonet and Richard Thonet. After the war, they had to start from scratch, with little more than their experience and passion for furniture. They recommenced their business in one of Gebrüder Thonet’s former warehouses in Vienna. From 1948 they rented a production site in Rohrau, Steiermark, before they finally built their own production site in Friedberg in 1962. In 1976 the company changed its name in Gebrüder Thonet Vienna. Now the company is renewing its partnership with the world of design, planning a new phase in its history working alongside designers that make research one of the distinctive traits of their creative path. This corporate vision confirms Gebrüder Thonet Vienna’s calling for design research, forging a link between its past and its future, with the aim of continuing, with innovation, on the road mapped out by tradition. All products manufactured by Gebrüder Thonet Vienna GmbH (GTV) are characterized by the new trademark Wiener GTV Design.
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