Thonet Brothers armchairs in a Tverskaya bistro and the history of the Vienna chair

Dropped into the Turkish bistro Mini Turkish Spot on Tverskaya and was pleasantly surprised to find, by the entrance, some splendid antique chairs by the Thonet Brothers. I even know where they were bought, an excellent choice. There was a time when Thonet bentwood furniture stood in almost every home, or theatre, as in this case. The Austrian firm of Thonet was the first maker of the model of chair familiar to everyone, dating from the 1830s and of the simplest construction: just 6 bent pieces held together by 10 metal screws. It is to Thonet chair No. 14 that we owe the set phrase "Viennese chair". Convenient for mass industrial production, Viennese furniture swiftly conquered the Western markets, and factories began to open in great numbers, and not only those of the Thonet Brothers but also those of their no less famous rivals in the furniture trade, the father and son Jacob and Josef Kohn: both firms had their own factories, agents, catalogues and millions of customers in Russia. The range of Viennese furniture ran to thousands of items, so that theatre rows were only one of many models