Viennese No. 4 Sofa by Michael Thonet for Jacob & Josef Kohn, 1870s

About This Piece

Vintage Design

Manufactured in Austria by the Jacob & Josef Kohn company. Marked with very old type of paper label. Newly restored.

Designer	Michael Thonet
Manufacturer	Jacob & Josef Kohn
Production Period	Before 2010
Identifying Marks	This piece is attributed to the above-mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark
Detailed Condition	Good — This vintage item remains fully functional, but it shows sign of age through scuffs, dings, faded finishes, minimal upholstery defects, or visible repairs.
Product Code	TZ-774629
Additional Information	Made to Order
Materials	Beech, Bentwood
Width	144 cm 144 cm
Depth	62 cm 62 cm
Height	100 cm 100 cm
Weight Range	Standard — Between 40kg and 80kg

Shipping & Delivery

Manufacturing Time	3-4 weeks
Ships from	Czech Republic
Returns	Returns accepted within 14 days of delivery, except for Made-to-order items

Delivery Options

Front Door Delivery: (Included in Every Order)	A skilled driver will unload the item(s) from the delivery truck and bring it to your building’s doorstep. You will be responsible for further transport beyond that point. We recommend asking a family member or friend for an extra hand; alternatively, you may upgrade to In-Home Delivery (see below). The delivery partner will email and/or call you at least one day in advance to arrange a delivery time. A wooden crate may be used for intercontinental shipments for maximum protection. Item will be left in its packaging after delivery. A signature will be required upon delivery.
In-Home Delivery: (For in-home delivery service, additional fees apply. Please get in touch)	A skilled driver or a team of two will bring your item(s) inside your home and place it in the immediate entryway. For unusually large or heavy items, we recommend asking a family member or friend for an extra hand, as we cannot send more than 2 drivers. The delivery partner will email and/or call you one day in advance to arrange a delivery time. A wooden crate may be used for intercontinental shipments for maximum protection. Item will be left in its packaging after delivery. A signature will be required upon delivery.

Front Door Delivery:
(Included in Every Order)

A skilled driver will unload the item(s) from the delivery truck and bring it to your building’s doorstep. You will be responsible for further transport beyond that point. We recommend asking a family member or friend for an extra hand; alternatively, you may upgrade to In-Home Delivery (see below).
The delivery partner will email and/or call you at least one day in advance to arrange a delivery time.
A wooden crate may be used for intercontinental shipments for maximum protection.
Item will be left in its packaging after delivery.
A signature will be required upon delivery.

In-Home Delivery:
(For in-home delivery service, additional fees apply. Please get in touch)

A skilled driver or a team of two will bring your item(s) inside your home and place it in the immediate entryway. For unusually large or heavy items, we recommend asking a family member or friend for an extra hand, as we cannot send more than 2 drivers.
The delivery partner will email and/or call you one day in advance to arrange a delivery time.
A wooden crate may be used for intercontinental shipments for maximum protection.
Item will be left in its packaging after delivery.
A signature will be required upon delivery.

*Important Note

Please examine every order upon delivery. In the event that there are visible signs of damage or missing or incorrect pieces, please indicate the problem on the Delivery Note and contact us within 48 hours of delivery. A signed delivery receipt without notations of missing, damaged, or incorrect item(s) represents your acceptance of the complete order in perfect condition.

About the Designer

Michael Thonet

Born in 1796 in Boppard am Rhein, Germany, carpenter and furniture designer Michael Thonet is famed for the invention of bentwood—a revolutionary process that played a key role in the development of the modern design movement.

Thonet opened his eponymous woodworking shop in his hometown in 1819. In the early 1840s, he began experimenting with bending and gluing laminated battens together, which resulted in the Boppard Chair (1841), the first furniture design to use bentwood.

During an exhibition at the Koblenz Fair in Germany in 1841, Chancellor of Vienna Prince Metternich discovered Thonet’s work and convinced him and his family to relocate to Vienna. Between 1843 and 1846, Thonet and his sons made parquet flooring for Carl Leistler and helped to furnish Liechtenstein Palace and Schwarzenberg Palace. In 1853, the company became Gebrüder Thonet (Thonet Brothers), in honor of Thonet’s five sons who would eventually inherit the hugely successful business.

In 1859, Thonet designed his company’s most renowned piece, the classic Chair No. 14, which is internationally known today as the Viennese Coffeehouse Chair. With this design, Thonet had evolved and refined his bentwood process to enabled mass production for the first time in history. Having sold over 50 million models by 1930, the No. 14 is the world’s bestselling chair.

During the 1860s, the Gebrüder Thonet opened subsidiaries across Europe. Other design classics include, Chair No. 04 for Café Daum (1849), Rocking Chair No. 1 (1860), No. 18 (1876), No. 209 (1900’s)—widely used by Le Corbusier in the 1920s—and Otto Wagner’s 247 (1904).

Thonet’s revolutionary designs inspired many designers— including Le Corbusier, Josef Hoffmann, Adolf Loos, Marcel Breuer, Alvar Aalto, Yngve Ekström, Otto Wagner, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe—and his process allowed for the creation of elegant, lightweight, curvilinear designs that anticipated the minimalist forms associated with modernism.

By the time Thonet passed away in 1871, Gebrüder Thonet had branches in nearly all major European cities. Today the company is known as Thonet GmBh and is headquartered in Frankenberg, Germany.