Split Chair by Arik Levy for TON

Designer Arik Levy uses a wood bending technology that’s over 150 years old to design his latest Split chair for TON.

The manual process of bending goes back to 1856 when Michael Thonet began using steam for his wood bending and TON is one of the remaining factories still doing it in the Czech Republic. Merging TON’s wood bending know-how with Levy’s modern design sense, the result is a chair with manually bent split legs. The split of the legs then supports the backrest and the seat.

As if that wasn’t enough, Levy wanted to bring something else to the new chair besides the shape. This led to the design’s gradient color.

Not only is each chair handmade, the gradient paint is sprayed on by a skilled craftsman.