The No. 14 chair is the most famous chair made by the Thonet chair company. Also known as the bistro chair, it was designed by Michael Thonet and introduced in 1859, becoming the world’s first mass-produced item of furniture. It is made using a unique steam-bending technology, known as bentwood, that required years to perfect. With its affordable price and simple design, it became one of the best-selling chairs ever made. Some 50 million No. 14s were sold between 1859 and 1930, and millions more have been sold since.

Thonet’s No. 14 was made of six pieces of steam-bent wood, ten screws, and two nuts. The chairs could be mass-produced by unskilled workers and disassembled to save space during transportation.