Viennese competitors

The collection holds a lot of pieces from the Viennese competitors:

Beside the early pieces produced in the workshop of Michael Thonet the collection shows a lot of pieces, manufactured from the Viennese competitors. The first competitors in Vienna appeared in the 1850s. Josef Neyger, Johann Kukol, Johann Weiss and Donat Kramer were continuously trying in various ways to make things as hard as possible for the Thonets. They reported unfair trading, requested the nullification of the privilege or recruited Thonet‘s workers to discover the secret of the new production technique. All of these attempts were thwarted – partially thanks to Metternich‘s protection – and the company expanded relatively undisturbed under the protection of the solid wood patent. Furniture makers in Vienna were no great competitors, however now, after the expiry of the solid wood patent in 1869, the J. & J. Kohn firm became the first serious one.