we just received the press release from a recent photo competition, organized by
the german company thonet.

'we had all sorts of people – young and old – taking part', says managing director roland ohnacker.
'more than 300 images from 19 countries had to be judged and brought into a sequence:
20 winners and 16 honorable mentions'.

among the winners of thonet’s photo competition 214x214 entitled': a chair the world over' :


ralph schubert, eppstein (D) ... this is a winning entry


christina römer, wien (A) received three prizes with 3 entries ... this is a winning entry


christina römer, wien (A) ... this is a honorable mention


christina römer, wien (A) ... and this is a honorable mention too


patrizia scarzella, milano (I) architect,
she defines herself as expert of corporate identity and communication, journalist and PR
consultant of italian and international design companies - winning entry


maria scarzella thorpe, san francisco (USA) photographer - winning entry


roberto basile, milano (I) psychoanalyst and photographer - honorable mention


214: it is often called the chair of all chairs – and rightfully so. traditionally-made chairs
had handcrafted joints.
then, around 1850, michael thonet made production cheaper by bending the wooden
components using steam and simply screwing them together.
no other chair has ever been reproduced as many times.
to date, more than 50 million copies have been made.
and thonet is still producing it following the original well-tried and proven principles.
chair no. 14, today 214, is considered the most successful industrial product in the world.

to honour the chair’s 150th birthday in 2009, thonet organised the
214x214: a chair the world over photo competition, in which lovers of
the café chair were invited to send in photographs of the 214 with
personal stories, his or her homage to the icon. the jury selected
three notable prize winners out of the masses of entries from around
the world: a family vignette, a still life with nude and a reportage-
style image.