Michael Thonet and his sons, photographed towards the end of the 1850s. Probably, had Michael Thonet not tried his business luck far away from home, he would have remained poor indeed. Michael Thonet (* July 2, 1796 in Boppard, † March 3, 1871 in Vienna). Many factors contributed to his success, which would certainly not have come into play in the Middle Rhine Valley. First of all, thanks to his inventive talent, Thonet was able to use techniques for his furniture that were far outside his learned profession. At the same time, he and his sons succeeded in converting the production from individual craftsmanship to mass production. In doing so, he generally did not fall back on the machine manufacturers' range of products available on the market, but developed, designed and optimized his tools and machines himself.