Contemporary since 1819: the trade fair booth at imm cologne 2019 designed by Studio Besau Marguerre combines bentwood and tubular steel, history and the present, and turns the DNA of the Thonet brand into unique experiences.
Welcome to Café Thonet – designed by Studio Besau Marguerre! Expansive, generous ceiling to floor curtains demarcate a larger outer and smaller inner circle at the imm cologne trade fair booth. Interrupted by openings, circular textile walls define special spaces that set the stage for contemporary and iconic classics from two centuries of furniture design in Thonet’s big anniversary year 2019.
The picture of the “café” develops several levels of meaning at once. First, the coffee house has always been a place for communication. Eating, drinking, retreating, and working: today, living and working both still take place in cafés. It is therefore a symbol of what Thonet is especially good at: designing successful furniture for communication. Whether long evenings or short visits, spontaneous or long-planned, at the dining table, in hotels or at meetings: we get together on Thonet.
Second, the success story of Thonet had its very real beginnings in the 19th century coffee houses. It makes sense to present the famous bentwood icons in a place that quotes this tradition in the big anniversary year. It is only logical that visitors will find a café in the centre of the booth and is evidence of the harmonious overall concept.
The tubular steel classics from the Bauhaus era are also integrated in the Café Thonet, which was inspired by Mies van der Rohe’s and Lilly Reich’s “Café Samt und Seide” (“Velvet and Silk Café”) from 1927. The Café Thonet combines the two most important innovations that are closely connected to the Thonet brand.
New products complete the presentation: the re-edition and interpretation of the side table series MR 515 by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and a new colour concept for the iconic Coffee House Chair 214, both by Studio Besau Marguerre, are introduced to the public. In addition, the Atelier swivel chair version of the S 64 by Marcel Breuer is on display. New bar stool versions and additions to the successful chair range 118 by Sebastian Herkner, including a bar chair version and a residential dining or meeting table designed by Wolfgang Mezger, round off the trade fair presentation.