Bentwood Chairs by Michael Thonet for Ton, Former Czechoslovakia, 1960s, Set of 2

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A set of two antique armchairs in bentwood, with a horseshoe back wrapping into the arms, over vertical splats and … Read more A set of two antique armchairs in bentwood, with a horseshoe back wrapping into the arms, over vertical splats and a moulded board seat. Originates from Czechoslovakia, where beech was steam-bent in iron moulds and assembled with through screws.The steam-bent beech chair was born in Vienna in the middle of the nineteenth century and became the most widespread seat in Europe: light, strong, knock-down and cheap to ship. Its presence in cafés, dining rooms and waiting rooms made it so common that it went almost unnoticed. The chairs retain the TON paper label beneath the seat, the national enterprise of Bystřice pod Hostýnem. This is the factory Michael Thonet founded in Moravia in 1861, nationalised in 1953 and renamed TON, short for Továrny na ohýbaný nábytek, bentwood furniture factories. The label also states the timber used: beech.Back and arms are a single length of steam-bent beech, closed into a horseshoe and finished in two rounded ends. The vertical splats sit between that hoop and the seat. The lower ring ties the four legs.The beech has taken a pale honey tone under its original varnish, more golden where hands and clothes have passed. The seats show the sheen that years of use give, with the odd fine scratch. The curves keep their tension and the hoops have no play. The set is complete and stable.It works around a dining table, and equally on its own as a desk chair or in a reading corner. The wrapping back gives it a presence a side chair does not have. See less