The Vienna Café chair No. 14 is probably the most successful example of Thonet bentwood furniture. Certainly it is the most simple and prolific. It was produced starting in 1859, as a "chair for mass consumption," and by 1930, more than 50 million had been produced. It is assembled from six pieces of wood held together with screws and nuts, with a caned seat. Gebruder Thonet, the Austrian company founded in 1853 by German cabinet maker Michael Thonet (1796-1871) and his five sons, had 52 factories in Europe by 1900, making bentwood furniture. Other models of that era include the Rocking Chair # 10, produced since 1866, and a senuous reclining couch, Model No. 2, produced since 1885. All were designed by Michael Thonet. The Vienna Café chair No. 14 achieved a permanent place in modern design history when it was included in an innovative housing exhibit called L'Esprit Nouveau at the Paris Exposition Internationale in 1925. Virtually un-noticed at the time, the exhibit, designed by French architect Le Corbusier (1887-1965--born as Charles Edouard Jeanneret Gris ) and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret (1896-1967), was an essentially bare and undecorated home interior, with metal file cabinets, bistro wine glasses, laboratory flasks as vases, industrial equipment, and commercial furniture (the Thonet chair) as part of the "decor". It was In fact, it expressed a complete rejection of decorative art, but within five years would greatly influence the direction of the modern movement, because of its emphasis on making the home a more efficient place, rather than the soon-to-be outdated emphasis on stylistic decor. Michael Thonet opened his furniture cabinetry workshop in 1819 in a rural Austrian town. By 1835, he was experimenting with a then-new technology of bending solid wood into chair parts, and by 1841, had patented his unique technique, characterized by flowing forms and the resultant lightweight product.

Gustav Stickley (1857-1942) was a designer and follower of the Arts and Crafts movement who entered the furniture business with many brothers in 1886. Gustav's brother, Charles Stickley, had in 1884 formed the Stickley-Brandt Furniture Company in Binghamton, NY and produced Victorian design furniture until it went bankrupt in 1919. Two of the brothers, George and Albert Stickley, moved to Grand Rapids, MI in 1891, making furniture at their firm, Stickley Brothers Company, which closed in 1907. Two other brothers, Leopold and J. George Stickley, opened a factory in Fayetteville, NY, under the name L. and J. G. Stickley Company, made furniture, some designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Gustav established his own firm in 1898, designing and making his own furniture in Syracuse, NY. He introduced his first line, called The New Furniture, at the Grand Rapids Furniture Show in 1900. The style was extremely plain and functional, compared with most Victorian furniture. In 1901, Gustav changed the name of his company to Craftsman and adapted the motto "Als Ik Kan" ("If I can"). He also began publication of a magazine, titled, The Craftsman, promoting his new design concept of "simplicity, durability and quality," and regarding his work as his personal "mission." Gustav was joined in 1903 by talented designer Harvey Ellis (1852-1904), and their furniture line met with such outstanding success that manufacture soon became nationally franchised and they moved operations to New York City in 1905. But demand soon exceeded production capability, and imitators abounded. Because of such proliferation, furniture produced by Stickley and others influenced by him became known generically as, "Mission Furniture." Massive imitation and competition of mission-style designs resulted in bankruptcy for Gustav in 1915. In 1916, his brothers' firm, L. and J. G. Stickley Company, purchased Gustav's factory and continued to operate it as the Stickley Manufacturing Company.

Designer, anthropologist, writer, and teacher, Victor Papanek was born in Vienna, Austria and arrived in the U.S. in 1932.