GTV launches the limited edition, fluorescent Lehnstuhl Chair: A Pamono exclusive!

The elegantly minimal bentwood creations that originated with German-Austrian cabinetmaker Michael Thonet in the 19th century are arguably the most enduring design icons in history. Thonet virtually invented the idea of using steam to bend slim rods of beech into reduced yet comfortable furniture forms, which were well suited to serial production and global shipping—a game changer at the time. It’s no wonder that modernist pioneers like Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier looked to Thonet as a kind of design godfather. But what’s even more amazing is that these designs—many of them between 100 and 150 years old—remain so wildly popular in contemporary interiors even today.

Since we’re such avid Thonet fans around here, we’re super excited to announce that we’ve joined forces with Gebrüder Thonet Vienna (GTV), the current Austrian incarnation of the legendary Thonet company, to offer some brand new, boldly beautiful, limited-edition chairs—hot off the presses and exclusively available through Pamono—that reimagine the Thonet tradition for the 21st century.

We’re especially loving British architect-designer Nigel Coates’s Lehnstuhl, now available on Pamono.com also in a neon dream of a Thonet chair: all the elegance of time-honored bentwood and woven cane articulated in generous proportions and finished in a traffic-stopping fluorescent orange. “My objective was to create something new that, at the same time, would seem like a classic,” Coates explains. What a unique marriage of heritage and hip! (Only 25 pieces will be produced, so get ’em while they last.)

And if that weren’t enough, we also have a gorgeous new piece from one of our all-time favorite designers, the always thoughtful and provocative Martino Gamper. If you’ve followed his career like we have, then you’ll know that Gamper has made quite a name for himself by reworking broken and discarded furniture, tapping into his cabinetmaking training to develop totally original pieces that take creative upcycling to a whole other, highly collectible level. A few years ago, Gamper reworked a Thonet chair and developed a new, unforgettable form in which the back and legs are made of the same curvilinear elements. This Post Mundus chair, as he called it, was picked up by Wiener GTV Design and put into production. For Pamono, GTV is offering a limited edition of 60 Post Mundus chairs in a chic green finish with blue velvet upholstery.

We reached out to Riccardo Pigati, formerly head of Gufram and handpicked by furniture mogul Franco Moschini of Poltrona Frau Group to revitalize the GTV brand, to ask about his strategy for working with Viennese’s weighty design legacy. “Today we’re renewing our strong relationship with the world of design, planning a new phase in our history by working alongside designers who rely on distinctive research approaches in their creative paths—and who are capable of imbuing the collection with their own personal vision of the brand,” Pigati explains. He adds, “Gebrüder Thonet Vienna is open and looking to the future, without, however, leaving the values and experience of the past behind. This result is achieved by taking forward a process that comes from the tradition but reinterpreting it in a contemporary way.”

• Text by

  • 

    Wava Carpenter

    After studying Design History, Wava has worn many hats in support of design culture: teaching design studies, curating exhibitions, overseeing commissions, organizing talks, writing articles—all of which informs her work now as Pamono’s Editor-in-Chief.