As a 150-year-old classic seat is relaunched, Stephen Bayley asks what present-day designers could learn from its longevity.

Designers want to do chairs the way writers want to do novels. There's always a lonely drawing or an unread manuscript lurking somewhere. But why bother? The greatest chair ever designed already exists and it's more than 150 years old.

This is the Thonet No 14 of 1855. At the London exhibition of 1862, the jury said it was "an excellent application of a happy thought ... not works of show, but practical furniture for daily use ... simple, graceful, light and strong". And now, in an interesting collaboration between the Japanese no-brand hyperbrand Muji and Gebrüder Thonet, it's ready for a global relaunch.

by Stephen Bayley

The Observer, Sunday 23rd August 2009