Details
Product type | Cantilever chair |
Dimensions | ![]() (1) Height: 82 cm (2) Width: 44 cm (3) Depth: 52 cm (4) Seat height: 46 cm Optional seat pad: Width: 39,6 cm Depth: 38,9 cm Height: 0,5 cm, with upholstery 1,6 cm |
Colours | Seat pad (optionally)![]() ![]() Stained beech ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Lacquered beech ![]() ![]() Structured coating ![]() Frame ![]() |
Material | Seat and backrest: beech, plywood Frame: Tubular steel, chrome plated Seat pad (optional): felt (100% wool), padding: foam |
Variants | Available in different finishes Optional felt glides for hard floors Optional seat pad Version with armrests S 43 F and S 43 Classics in Colour can be ordered separately |
Accessories | Suitable Seat Pad for S 43 Classic by Parkhaus Berlin available separately in many more colours |
Functions & Properties | Non stackable |
Care | For cleaning the wood and metal surfaces a soft, damp cloth and a mild, neutral detergent is recommended |
Certificates & Sustainability | Thonet has declared sustainability to be a corporate principle. The manufacturer continuously optimizes all processes from production/technology, materials management and recyclability to transport routes and constantly pays attention to resource-saving energy and material consumption. Last but not least, social and ethical principles are among the top priorities. Thonet has been awarded the "Green Globe Certificate" for its measures of sustainable and environmentally friendly management - further information can be found here. |
Warranty | 24 months |
Product family | Thonet Cantilever Chairs |
Datasheet | Please click on picture for detailed information (ca. 0,9 MB).![]() |
Product presentation |
FAQ
Is it possible to retrofit felt glides to an S 43 Classic?
The S 43 Classic frame is specially produced to allow a retrofitting of felt glides. The glides (transparent or black) with felt insert, add an additional 11 mm to the overall height and cost 29, - EUR per set / chair. The felt pads are installed as follows: With a 4.2 mm drill (available at any hardware store or as the special-hardened Thonet drill bits for Euro) bore holes in the marked locations. The felt pads can then be attached using the supplied self-tapping screws.
Can S 43 backrests and seats be ordered individually?
S 43 spares cannot be supplied simply because the seat and backrest are not screwed onto the frame but riveted. In addition, over the years the contours and radius of the frames have changed ever so slightly. therefore depending on how old your chairs are, modern seats and backrest may not fit. Thonet however offer a repair service in which chairs are repaired at their factory.
What is the difference between the lacquered and stained wood finishes?
The lacquered variant is bright and glossy (jet black RAL 9005, white RAL 9010, RAL 3013 tomato red, anthracite gray RAL 7016). The stained version is more matt and the wood grain is visible.

Mart Stams cantilever chair without armrests: the S 43 from Thonet
The cantilever chair S 43 by Mart Stam was one of the first chairs designed without back legs and is in many ways now considered the archetypal Bauhaus classic. Inspired by car, plane and train seats, for which partly cantilevered tubular steel frames were already being used, Mart Stam's 1925 creation further developed and evolved the principle of the Thonet cantilever chair. Produced since its creation by the manufacturer Thonet Mart Stam's S 43 without arms was after the Thonet S 33 one of the precursors of the cantilever chair, the rigid nature of its construction meaning a resilient, giving, seat was missing. The S 43, was used in the 1927 in the exhibition "Die Wohnung" in the Weissenhofsiedlung Stuttgart, where Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was also represented with a cantilever model. In the following years Stams model was further developed by different designers and as a concept quickly gained in popularity. Consequently from the very early days there was confusion about the authorship of the Bauhaus chair, and although in 1932 the Supreme Court awarded Mart Stam artistic authorship of the cantilever chair today the debate still rages as to whether Mart Stam or Marcel Breuer is the real spiritual father of the cantilever chair.
Mart Stam gave his design a cubist inspired form. The strict concentration of the S 43 Thonet chair design on a simple geometric construction is characteristic of a work developed by minimalist reduction. The elasticity of the steel tube allows the frame of the Thonet S 43 to remain flexible and resilient and thus respond to the movements of the user. Upholstery is unnecessary due to this elasticity, and so the seat and backrest could be made ??from simple moulded plywood. In addition to the S 43 Classic Stam also developed the S 43F, a version with armrests. With its economical aesthetic the S 43 is today considered as an outstanding example of a furniture design in the spirit of modernism that combines comfort and a minimalist design language.

S 43 designer Mart Stam
Manufacturer
Originally founded in 1819 by Michael Thonet in Boppard am Rhine, Germany as a joinery firm, the company quickly developed into a world renowned furniture manufacturer and for all one which made a name for itself through the use of new technologies and outstanding designs. Beginning with the bentwood chairs of the 19th century and continuing over to models such as the S 43 Thonet chairs are characterised by a special combination of technical innovation and novel design. For their famous bentwood chairs Thonet developed a n