It’s All About The Cabaret – The No. 18 Bentwood Chair

When you think of the cabaret chair you might picture a certain Liza Minelli dancing around one in her famous ‘Mein Herr’ routine. The film was set in a seedy Berlin Club in around 1931, but why was she dancing around this particular chair? Quite simply because it was arguably the most popular chair around. In fact it has been since around 1870 when Michael Thonet produced it in his factory.

The No. 18 bentwood chair as it is known was very cheap to produce. Consisting of just six pieces of wood which were bent and held in place with a hardened resin, it was also quick to make. As a result thousands were produced. It wasn’t before long that the cabaret chair started to grace the café’s and bars of Vienna and from there spread to Paris and the rest of the world.

Because they were cheap to produce they were also affordable for most cafe owners. This meant that for many years right through to the 1960’s and 70’s when designers turned their backs on simplicity in favour of more radical designs, the Cabaret chair was the cafe chair of choice and ruled supreme. In fact it had become a bit of a design icon because aside from it’s sinuous curves and elegant slender legs, it was a practical choice too. It was light and therefore easy to pick-up and move around and despite the fact that it was made from steamed wood that had been bent unnaturally into shape, it was also surprisingly robust.

The Cabaret Comeback

For 30 years or so, the Bentwood chair fell out of favour but at the turn of the 21^st century a demand for all things retro, became the resurrection of this simplistic beauty. Suddenly cafe owners and home owners alike were clamouring to buy the Bentwood chair, and guess what? Demand pushed up the price. Nowadays if you want to by an original Michael Thonet Cabaret Chair you’ll be paying upwards of $200 or more for a new one. Clearly for larger venues looking to buy say 50 or 60, unless owners have a bottomless pit of cash to spend. it probably isn’t a feasible option. So what do you do?

The good news is that you can now buy replica cabaret chairs or chairs that are inspired by the original design. Here at Cafe Furniture Melbourne for example we stock our own version of this famous chair, but instead of being made from beech wood it’s made using tubular steel. At a little over $69.00 it’s affordable, practical, and long lasting. What’s more it come in a wide variety of bright colours to fit in with any décor.

If you’d like your very own slice of iconic retro to grace your cafe, then take a look at our Bentwood No. 18 steel cabaret chairs. For further information, contact us on 03 9357 9688 and talk to our experienced team who will assist.