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160 Years Strong: Innovating Tradition, Shaping Tomorrow

Eero Koivisto

Innovation is in our DNA, but we never forget where we came from.

Eero Koivisto designer Claesson Koivisto Rune
“Traditional bentwood technology has remained unchanged for 160 years. Ton has extended it into the future with these contemporary production possibilities.”

We are always thinking about how to do our job in the best and most efficient way. We haven't changed a jot about the hand-bending of wood that began in Bystřice pod Hostýnem. Humanity still wins over robotics here. However, for the simpler wood bending, we now use machines that we have developed ourselves in our factory.

about

2024

historie

1861

picture of a book +- 160 years

Ton history on your bookshelf

Czech/English book ± 160 Years describes on 259 pages the historical events and developments that shaped the evolution of bentwood furniture from Bystřice pod Hostýnem. This narrative publication is written by Czech art curator Adam Štěch and is published with the support of Ton.

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History of furniture production in Bystřice pod Hostýnem

1861

Establishing the factory

The factory was founded by Michael Thonet himself in Bystřice pod Hostýnem in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, today's Czech Republic. The bestseller at the time was chair No. 14, which was shipped disassembled all over the world.

14 Chair detail

1876

Chair No. 18

Production of chair No. 18 started at the factory. This classic product is still in our portfolio. In these years has begun golden era for Thonet.

18 Barstool detail

1903

Chair No. 30

The factory became development and innovation center for Thonet concern. August Thonet designed immortal chair No. 30, which appealed to the architect Le Corbusier so much that he often used it in his designs in the 1920s.

30 Armchair detail

1924

Competitors

Post-war development was challenging, so the unthinkable happened: the former competitors, Thonet, Mundus and Kohn, merged to form the world’s largest furniture company, the Thonet Mundus Concern.

1930

Chair No. 811

Josef Hoffman's iconic chair design A811 was born. This collection is still part of our product portfolio today and is still very popular with our customers and architects.

811 Chair detail

1953

New name

After WW2, the factory in Bystřice pod Hostýnem was taken out of the Thonet Mundus Group, to be renamed THONET for 8 years. When the new Czechoslovak company was formed in 1953, it was called TON.

1994

New era

Birth of the current joint stock company followed later on by a new logo. Ton stood ready to embrace the challenges of a market economy.

2010

Merano Armchair

We launched this chair, which is both the most commercially successful chair in the factory’s modern history, and the one that has won the most prizes.

Merano Armchair detail

2011

Chair No. 2

Redesign of our chair No. 14 made only of three instead of six original pieces to commemorate our 150th anniversary.

2 Chair detail

2015

Split Collection

TON company was the first in the world to produce Arik Levy’s masterpiece: chair with split wood bent opposite directions.

Split Chair detail

2021

P.O.V.Collection

Our factory started to produce a new modular table collection with an organically shaped base.

P.O.V. Table 460 detail

2022

Collection 822

Designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune who reimagined original shapes of our classic No. 811 for the 21st century.

822 Chair detail

Our references

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None of this would be possible without the people of Ton

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Employee

“I am part of a great team and get to create beautiful products. I always enjoy seeing our products in television adverts and take pride in knowing that we are a global brand.”
Kateřina Zdráhalová, works in Ton for 25 years

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