London-based designer Michael Anastassiades, renowned for his elegant and minimalist lighting, has developed the wonderfully simple and doodle-like lounge chair N.200 in collaboration with Austrian company Gebrüder Thonet Vienna (GTV).

The harmonious incorporation of traditional styles defines the new N.200 lounge chair. The piece provides a sophisticated expression of the GTV style and its deep vocation for design innovation. The seat represents the perfect combination of the history of the brand and the tradition of bent wood, whose roots stretch back into design culture for over two centuries.

In continuation of the long-standing tradition of naming the seats with ascending numbers, N.200 celebrates the 200th anniversary of the opening of the very first joinery workshop, launched by Michael Thonet in Boppard in 1819. With a deeply harmonious stylistic approach, the renowned designer has brought his poetic yet disciplined hand to some of the archetypal Gebrüder Thonet Vienna design features: bent beech-wood and woven cane. These become the distinguishing features of N.200, where method and form come together to create a timeless chair with a deliberately clean, minimalist elegance.

Gebrüder Thonet Vienna and Anastassiades share a focus on attention to detail: the wooden structure features curving that creates the armrests and feet with apparent simplicity, showcasing the high manufacturing standards at GTV, while the seat and backrest in woven cane contribute to the overall feeling of lightness.

On working with GTV for this project, Anastassiades explains:

They liked my general approach and philosophy and they gave me carte blanche to do what I wanted, which was to create a chair, and I liked the idea of a low-slung side chair that’s comfortable and lightweight, so I went to them with that proposal.

The curved design of this chair is intentionally simple and pared back. Continuing the design language of GTV with the fluid lines of the frame expressing the manufacturing method, Anastassiades explains:

I wanted to incorporate the seat as part of the bentwood technique. It looks like a doodle or a drawing done with a single line, with the surface of the seat incorporated into the frame.

This design has resulted in a truly timeless aesthetic—a chair that not only exudes comfort and lightness, but also elegance.