‘Thonet B 306’ lounge chair

Ca. 1930

‘Thonet B306’ rocking chair, ‘Exécution Série’ version with black and gray lacquered steel base and rubber glides, chrome-plated bent steel tube frame with tensioners incorporated into the cotton cover.

Special order with high base

Thonet Edition

Dimensions:

H. 27.5 x L. 62.5 x W. 18.8 in.

One of his first creations, in collaboration with Charlotte Perriand—who was responsible for the agency’s furniture designs at the time—and also one of his most successful pieces, is the tubular armchair, produced at the time by Thonet. First presented at the Salon d’Automne in 1929 as part of the interior design for everyday living, it quickly became a symbolic example of modernism in France in the 1920s and 1930s.

This rather rare model is a special order, made in the early 1930s. Indeed, differences in dimensions appear in the front foot which is the same size as the rear one while the standard model presented a rear foot higher than the front foot! This lounge chair therefore joins the few rare variant commissions, like the one made in 1929 for the Maharajah of Indore and covered with leopard skin or the one with its metal structure wrapped in leather and made in 1929 for Madeleine Vionnet.