Manual Bending Technology is going to break another limit at the Salonedel Mobile. A series of new products by the designer Arik Levy, is going to be introduced at this year’s Salone del Mobile by the TON Company at the C05 Stand in Hall No. 12. The Split series links more than the 150-year-old technology of wood-bending with a contemporary design and it is going to be introduced in an utterly new, so far not-yet presented conception.


“To take the past and bring it to the future was my initial idea,” Arik Levy described his inspiration. “All the products from this family were born from just one idea, the idea of bending – not in the way it is usually used, but to give it a new shape. In this case, the wood is divided into two parts and each part is bent in a different direction. It is a new experience for me, the TON Company and the product itself,” added Levy. Manual wood-bending technology attained its specific form in 1856, when Michael Thonet gained the privilege for wood-bending using steam or boiling liquids. The year after that, he opened his first factory in Koryčany in the Czech Republic, and another one in 1861 in Bystřice pod Hostýnem. “He used the perfect logistic location of that place, the sufficient availability of a work force skilled in this craft and the local resources, beeches from the surrounding woods,” explained Jan Juza, TON’s Marketing Director. Thonet established a lot of other factories - but only three of them are still working fully till today. The factory in Bystřice pod Hostýnem became a national enterprise after WWII, which changed its name to TON; an abbreviation of “TovárnanaOhýbanýNábytek” (Factory of Bent Furniture). “Since 1994, we have worked as an independent brand, under private ownership. Our goal is to link traditional hand-crafted work with new design concepts and to preserve it for future generations,” specified Juza.


Wood-bending technology begins with the steaming of squared wooden timbers in special vatswhere, depending on their diameters, they remain for several hours. The craftsmen put the beech or ash roundwood into metal forms and then attach a flange. This places pressure on the wood and enables it to take the shape of the form. “When you watch the fascinating bending process, it looks very easy; but it definitely is not. You need to have great skills, strength and sense too. We have been learning these in Bystřice pod Hostýnem for many years. We pass our experience on from generation to generation, and each generation brings new knowledge. Despite this fact, to learn the correct way of bending every single new model takes more than half-a-year,” Juza described. After bending, the wood is dried and air-conditioned, which takes several weeks. “We sand it, stain it, lacquer it, upholster it ... the whole process begins with a piece of wood and ends with a finished, packed chair,” he adds.


The Split chair is produced in the same way; although it does bring innovation into this more than 150-year-old technology. “We are looking forward a lot to introducing a chair, a barstool, an armchair and a lounge armchair. It will be the very first time we can see manually bent split massive wood that creates the design and functional elements of seating furniture,” said Juza.


Split will not be only about theunique technology of manual bending. “I wondered about what I could give to a chair apart from its shape. Therefore I chose to highlight the gradient colour. It is not easy to do, but it can be seen in so many ways in the countryside ... sunrise and sunset, the surface of the sea, colourful tree leaves,” said Arik Levy as he revealed another speciality of the Split design family. He chose its own special colour palette, in which the gradient will be sprayed on the new collection. “Every single piece that will be produced in this way is an original, made by skilled craftsmen´ hands. The same as with our traditional technology,” said Juza in the end.

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