March 27, 2009

thonet on the cheap

I'm not a huge Thonet fan... but there is something appealing about his chairs. They are what they are - the design and construction virtually unchanged for YEARS... a smart and elegant yet functional piece of good design (i.e. form meets function)... they are light and airy... classic.

Several days ago I stumbled on 2 used Thonet chairs for sale... they were manufactured in 1910 (Poland) and had been in storage for 50 years. Guess how much... just guess...
... $40.

I bought them... seriously, at $40... that's less than a cab ride to O'Hare!!!

2 comments:

emilygmitchell said...

I have the exact same chairs. They were purchased by my great aunt 40 or 50 years ago from a college (the one I ended up going to) when they remodeled the dining hall. She purchased them for just 25 cents each. Thanks for telling me when the model was made; I'd always wondered!

ingrida said...

If you look on the bottom of the chairs, there should be a label with date and location the chair was manufactured... but if the label is gone, it's a bit of a guess.