Wiener GTV Design Thonet - Postsparkasse armchair beech lacquered black

Extreme shape synthesis. Minimalism, exclusivity and an eye for detail. The “Postsparkasse” series was designed in 1906 by Otto Wagner for the headquarters of the Post Office Savings Bank in Vienna, and represents a clear expression of modern Viennese art. The solid bent beech wood structure is both embracing and ergonomic. Aluminium details. This item introduces a new concept to the “Postsparkasse” series: the use of wood with a square, not round cross-section, to create a more rigorous design. The range comprises an armchair and a stool.

Otto Wagner

Otto Wagner (Penzing, Vienna, 1841 - Vienna 1918), Austrian architect and urban planner, was one of the greatest masters of modern architecture, and strongly influenced, as a teacher and theorist, the architectural evolution between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After studying at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna (1857-60) and briefly at the Baukademie in Berlin, he attended (1860-63) the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna, where he became a professor in 1894. Parallel to his teaching activity, in 1894, he began his architectural works. In a polemic with traditional academic lines, defending the Viennese Secession, Wagner promoted the simplification of architectural composition, emphasized by a similar use of structural solutions and building materials, where the decoration also becomes functional to the definition of the volumes.

Wiener GTV Design Thonet

Michael Thonet (1796-1871) and his five children were the most successful manufacturers of furniture in the Industrial Age. Gebrüder Thonet Vienna GmbH (GTV) has develop edits work in a successful blend of the traditional and the modern, of continuity and renewal, with a new production program that begins by re-editing a series of Gebrüder Thonet classics. At the same time, GTV stands for contemporary furnishing. Advanced production techniques are applied to innovative designs and uses of materials, to create highly sought-after, multipurpose furnishing items. Truly original, up-to-date solutions that integrate well with the more classic products of its catalogue, now reworked.Items such as chair No. 14, of which more than 50 million were made between 1850 and 1930, have gone down in history for their fine design and manufacturing quality, and yet still today excite and attract new generations. GTV always succeeds in finding the perfect combination of tradition and innovation, assisted by continuous research into new, clear-cut, versatile designs.The tangible and intangible intrinsic value of the GTV collection is expressed in the Wiener GTV Design brand, engraved on a coin embedded in the structure of each single piece: a precious detail that certifies authenticity, originality and quality in stable balance between manufacturing and high-level craftsmanship. Inspiring this unique detail was the coin with the image of the brand that was historically spent internally within Thonet production facilities throughout Europe.