TON Catalog

The History
…the oldest in the world

More than 150 years ago, the first pieces of bentwood furniture were created by craftsmen in Bystřice pod Hostýnem. The town with a strategic location, surrounded by beech woods, was chosen as a place suitable for another of Michael Thonet´s factories. His principles of bending wood were adopted by TON in 1953 after several changes of property rights and company names. Bystřice pod Hostýnem is the oldest place in the world where a traditional manufacturing technology is still used.

Technology and production
…by hand and heart

Every single wood piece is unique. It needs a different time for absorbing steam before bending and then different times for drying. The most frequently processed wood is beech as it shows the best characteristic features for this kind of technology. Although TON has implemented modern machinery to the manufacturing process; some operations done manually can never be substituted. It is only man who is capable of insetting wood full of saturated steam into a mold and securing it with a special metal plate preventing the bent wood from cracking. It is man who is trained for this procedure for several months and who apart from strength in his hands mainly uses his sense.

The present
…design and quality

Together with designers we refresh traditional manufacturing procedures with new shapes, while the famous quality stays unaffected. It is noticed not only by customers from 60 countries all over the world, but also by committees of prestigious design competitions. We were awarded with Red Dot Design Award and Good Design for chair Merano; Red Dot Honourable Mention for silent servant Petalo; Interior Innovation Award for barstool Rioja, coat-hanger Tee, and chair 002; Furniture of the Year for armchairs Wave and Mojo and Manufacturer of the Year within the Czech Grand Design.