Fameg A-18 Bentwood Chairs

This is a chair everyone recognises before they know its name. Fameg’s A-18 carries forward the familiar form of the No. 18, developed by Gebrüder Thonet in 1876. Closely related to the celebrated No. 14 café chair, its long looped timber backrest gives it a clear identity of its own.

That familiarity reflects how widely the design travelled. The No. 18 emerged as Thonet was changing how furniture could be made and distributed, with its lightweight construction and distinctive shape helping it become a fixture in cafés, restaurants and public interiors around the world.

Those qualities remain clear in the A-18 today. The sweeping timber backrest gives the chair a strong silhouette without making it feel visually heavy, while curved supports continue beneath the seat. A circular embossed pattern adds further detail against the restrained black finish.

These examples are the traditional fixed A-18 rather than the stacking version, retaining the straightforward practicality of the historic design.

Fameg’s connection to Thonet begins with the factory itself. Gebrüder Thonet opened the Radomsko factory in Poland, where bentwood production began in 1881. Production continued there, and from the 1950s the company operated under the Fameg name. The A-18 is still made using traditional manual bending, preserving a genuine element of timber craftsmanship within a chair originally developed for efficient production.

Familiar, practical and easy to place, these chairs work equally well around a dining table, in a café or as occasional seating. They bring a piece of European furniture history into everyday use.

We regularly source original designer pieces from commercial and institutional settings. Enquiries about this piece or others are always welcome.