As one of the oldest furniture manufacturers, Thonet has had a major influence on the world of design. As well as their appealing, timeless design language, the brand's pieces owe their popularity above all to their excellent quality and durability. Last year, we spoke to Creative Director Norbert Ruf about Thonet's sustainable recipe for success. We met him again for another interview and gained fascinating insights into the past year.
Hello Mr Ruf, thank you for your time.
As Creative Director, your work last year involved a great deal of planning, research and project management, as well as trade fair visits and working with designers. How has your role changed over the past year?
The day-to-day business is always there, of course, and must not be neglected, because it forms the foundation. Even so, it's important to keep looking beyond the obvious – to start from today and engage with tomorrow. Our understanding of work and working environments is changing, and supply chains as well as established types of materials and energy sources are being questioned.
The question of whether a product is really needed – and if so, how it should be designed – is also being asked anew. In this context, we put our tried-and-tested perspectives and processes to the test and consider how we should respond as a manufacturer.
What were your Thonet highlights last year?
One highlight was certainly regaining our freedom – spending time together and meeting friends, colleagues and customers in person. Another was presenting a remarkable installation by Sebastian Herkner at the historic Circolo Filologico during the furniture fair in Milan, Italy, in June.
In October, at the Orgatec office furniture fair in Cologne in Germany, we were able to show the qualities of our furniture in the context of today's working environments, on a stand designed for us by Werner Aisslinger.
What personal story connects you with Thonet?
There are several, but this is perhaps the most significant for me: the owner of the furniture company I worked for after graduating always used the 209 bentwood chair as a benchmark for attitude and successful modern furniture design. That chair, which stood at the dining table in his home, even then shaped my thinking about how things should be.
Thonet has been around for almost 200 years. What do you think is the secret of its success?
It's probably not just one thing. But a constant willingness not to stand still – to move through time with open eyes and reflect it in a way that's never fashionable but always modern, while recognising what's good, preserving it and keeping it relevant – certainly helps.
Some of our products have been in our portfolio for more than 150 years, such as the classic 214 coffee house chair. If we still photographed it the way we did 150 years ago, for example, many people would find it hard to fall in love with it today. We have always offered new perspectives on iconic products, which remain relevant today thanks to their timeless design and fit naturally into many interiors.
What was the biggest challenge Thonet has faced over the years?
Probably resisting the temptation to become complacent when looking back at what has been achieved.
How can I recognise a genuine Thonet?
I'd like all Thonet products to have something that makes them recognisable but not intrusive – they should shape their surroundings without dominating them.
Every original also carries clear evidence of its origins. As early as the 19th century, Michael Thonet began marking his furniture with paper labels or embossed stamps – and that's still done today. It also makes it easy to date the individual models.
In our last interview, you said: "We feel obliged to address issues that matter to society today and translate them into new products." How have you put this into practice?
When Michael Thonet invented the bentwood chair, you had to wait several weeks for a chair. Each one was made individually by a cabinetmaker, so they were expensive. With his industrial production approach, Thonet invented the "three-penny chair": compared with earlier models, it was inexpensive, very robust and available at short notice. The real achievement of this development was that it gave expression to the changing realities of life at the time.
The new understanding of work should be seen in a similar way. The question here is what products are needed in this context. Our conclusion: not everything has to lead to a new product. Sometimes an existing product benefits because it becomes better or more durable, is placed in a new context, or we build on it and create additions.
We probably won't save the world with furniture. But we can pick up on and address issues that matter to society as a whole.
When we last spoke, you explained Thonet's sustainability strategy to us. What would you like to improve in future?
The three-pillar model, which is based on pursuing environmental, economic and social goals on an equal footing in order to do business in a truly sustainable way, is good and right.
We must continue to bring this approach to life and carry out a range of activities. As one step, we're currently investing in a photovoltaic system that will help us generate much of our electricity from solar power.
Which pieces of furniture are regarded as Thonet's ultimate design classics?
It's actually unfair to single out some designs as special, given the many good designs in the Thonet portfolio built up over the centuries. But it's clear that some pieces have become more established than others and shine a little brighter.
These certainly include Marcel Breuer's tubular steel cantilever chairs, the S 32 and S 64, but also the 209 bentwood armchair, which Le Corbusier used again and again in his architecture and to which he attributed a certain nobility. Among the contemporary models, Sebastian Herkner's versatile 118 wooden chair seems to have the potential to become a "young classic".
What is your favourite Thonet piece?
With such a special collection, I'm truly spoilt for choice. Alongside the S 64 cantilever chair, with which Marcel Breuer elegantly combined the bentwood heritage with the modern material of tubular steel at the end of the 1920s, I'm always particularly drawn to the latest design we've worked on. At the moment, that's the S 661 moulded wood chair from 1954, which we've just reissued and which skilfully combines precision with organic form.
An exciting year is drawing to a close. What new Thonet products and highlights can we look forward to in the new year?
We've just launched an edition of the S 179 bar cart, recently attributed to Mies van der Rohe, with Tanqueray Gin. It was designed by Sebastian Herkner and will be available for a limited time in 2023. We also have plenty more planned … but first, we need to do the day-to-day business I mentioned at the start well.
After all, the new products from 2022 should go where they belong – to our customers. Our furniture is at its best when it becomes part of everyday life.
Thank you for these fascinating insights!
