Ladder, Gebrüder Thonet
Charlie Styrbjörn Nilsson

15 September 2014

Invest to innovate. That’s what the historic firm of Gebrüder Thonet has always done, ever since it started to experiment with the steam bending of solid wooden dowels in the middle of the 19th century. In keeping with its glorious past, the Austrian manufacturer is today turning to young talents for the design of new models. Like Charlie Styrbjörn Nilsson, who with Ladder has revived the tradition of the celebrated No. 14 chair, borrowing from it a quarter circle that he has turned into the rungs of a ladder. Light and strong, the characteristics for which Thonet is famous, this ladder for indoor use combines functionality and elegance. Ladder has been able not only to change the status of the object from a practical device into a piece of furniture in its own right, but also to bring history into the present.

Ladder, Gebrüder Thonet Charlie Styrbjörn Nilsson Necessary #261

Domitilla Dardi

Torn between the history of art and the history of architecture, she came across design at the end of the last century and has not let go of it since. She loves to deal with everything that entails the use of ingredients, their choice, mixing and transformation: from writing to cooking, from knitting to design, from perfumes to colors. She is curator for design at the MAXXI and professor of the History of Design at the IED.

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