Vintage Dining Chairs

At Merchant & Found, we specialise in original 20th-century vintage dining chairs, and we carry a large stock. The history of design and development of chairs is fascinating, and a chair design is often what a great designer is remembered by. Historically the famous chairs of the great cabinet makers Chippendale or Hepplewhite started this movement, and even more so during the industrial revolution, the chair became the signature piece a designer was renowned for.

Thonet: A Critical Turning Point for Mass Produced Designer Chairs

Thonet was perhaps the critical turning point when design was combined with mass production. In the late 19^th century Michael Thonet invented the process of steam-bending beech wood and the ubiquitous bentwood chair was born. Over the next century, it has been the discovery of new materials and production methods that has driven chair design. Two of the most famous examples are the Bauhaus development of tubular metal chairs and Charles and Ray Eames’s development of their iconic fibreglass chairs.

A Wide Selection Of Retro Dining Chairs

We are champions of the forgotten 20th-century makers of vintage seating and usually stock chairs from iconic names such as PEL, Baumann, Tolix, Thonet, Mullca to name a few. We supply these chairs to cafés, hotels, restaurants and pubs and to private clients all over the world. We have so many chairs that we tweaked our website to categorise them and here are some highlights:

Bentwood

We love everything about vintage bentwood chairs and scour Europe for the best examples, Thonet, Fischel, Luterma and of course Baumann are our favourite makers.

Stacking

We carry a vast range of vintage stacking chairs, perfect for café and restaurants due to their practicality. Our favourite makers are Mullca the makers of the ubiquitous French school chairs and Esavian chairs when we can find them.

Metal

Nothing beats a vintage garden chair, and Tolix is the master, although we love Multipl’s when we can find them, but don’t forget that outdoor chairs can also be used inside for a different look.

Statement Chairs

A single spectacular chair is a perfect accessory in almost any spot, they have infinite uses, tucked in a corner as a focal point or even next to the bed as a bedside table.