Also known as the "bistro chair", it was designed in the Austrian Empire[1] by Michael Thonet and introduced in 1859, becoming the world's first mass-produced item of furniture.

[2][3] It is made using bent wood (steam-bending), and the design required years to perfect.

The wooden parts were made by heating beechwood slats to 100 °C (212 °F), pressing them into curved cast-iron moulds, and then drying them at around 70 °C (158 °F) for 20 hours.

[2] Later chairs, as illustrated here, were made of eight pieces of wood: two diagonal braces were added between the seat and back, to strengthen this hard-worked joint.

[5] In 2009, the chair was redesigned by James Irvine, an English designer, and retailed from Muji, a Japanese company.