Dates: 13th to 23rd November 2015

Venue: Vienna, Austria, University of Applied Arts Vienna and the city

Event: Thonet’s Stories: In the Footsteps of Distribution. Thonet Chair N 14 or a Deconstruction of a Viennese Chair

Format: IDS / University of Applied Arts Vienna Exchange Workshop  Series

Instructors: Tatia Skhirtlazde, University of Applied Arts Vienna / 

    Giga Khatiashvili and Nino Akhobadze, IDS

Photo © designtbilisi

12 students from the IDS led by Giga and Nino visited Vienna University of Applied Arts between 13th to 23rd November 2015. They were met by the Austrian students and teachers and discussed with them the history of the Thonet corporation. Together, the mixed Austrian and Georgian universities students’ teams conducted studies of the Thonet brand, met Thonet designers and the company founder’s directvdescendant – Evamaria Schmertzing-Thonet, visited furniture collectors, went to museums and, after brainstorming sessions, generated ideas to complete practical works picking up from the Tbilisi workshop of an year before – the first in this series. The Thonet’s Stories project greatly helped to promote Tbilisi, emphasize its cultural connections with Vienna, and underlined the importance of the Austrian culture and the cultural and industrial background of the Viennise furniture. The exchange of information and experience has occurred. Two universities, the GTU and Vienna Applied Arts University, created a strong bond by recording and archiving project information, creating and presentating new designs ideas based on the use of Thonet objects, and wowed to continue the series – next year in Tbilisi.