Hoffman side chair - Black

Overview

Josef Hoffmann is well known for the simple, restrained, yet visually interesting dining chairs – several intended for cafés – that he designed early in the 20th century. The influence of the Arts and Crafts movement can be seen in his work, but Hoffmann also embraced the industrial age. Rather than rejecting traditional decoration, he succeeded in making it serve structural principles, which he believed should determine the forms of buildings, interiors and objects. Whether admiring one of his chairs or the Sanatorium Purkersdorf he designed in 1903, you can see Hoffmann’s emphasis on straight, unadorned lines, characteristics that are in keeping with the style of the Viennese Secession. The Hoffmann Side Chair (1925), designed in collaboration with Josef Frank, is made at the bentwood factory founded by Michael Thonet in 1861.