According to legend, the following incident happened during the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867: Michael Thonet’s chair no. 14 fell from the Eiffel Tower 57 metres to the ground – and survived the fall. The robustness of the chair – proven by more than just this remarkable incident – combined with its elegant, no-frills form and the revolutionary possibility for serial production contributed greatly to the unparalleled success of this chair. In 1862, the coffee house chair, known today as model 214, won the bronze medal at the London World Exhibition and the gold medal at the Paris World Exhibition in 1867. By 1930, Thonet had sold 50 million chairs; to this day, the world’s most famous chair continues to fascinate. Over the decades Thonet has produced many different versions of this piece of furniture – most recently, in the beginning of 2015, the chair no. 214 was for the first time brought to market in the “Pure Materials” collection in regional ash wood.