Semper Sursum by Jiri Uhlir on the history of the Bentwood Furniture firm of Jakob and Josef Kohn gives a well
grounded insight of the development of the important competitor of Michael Thonet in the field, backed up by
archivial studies led by the author. Mr. Uhlir was able to retrace the firm archive of the Kohn factory in the central
archive at the town of Trebic, Czech Republic. Like Michael Thonet, Jakob and Josef Kohn did not set out from
the beginning to become furniture producers. The Kohn family also followed Thonets way of expanding the
business by transfering the production to Moravia, where large woods guaranteed an efficient and priceworthy
production.
The joint production of architect /designer and producer became the leading principle of the firm, giving the chance
of integrating appropriate furniture in their "Gesamtkunstwerk" to noteworthy Viennese architects and designers
like Otto Wagner, Josef Hoffmannn, Adolf Loos, Koloman Moser, Marcel Kammerer and Otto Prutscher, only to
mention the most important ones. After World War I, the indipendent firms of Kohn and Thonet were merged into
the Thonet Mundus firm..
The book by Jiri Uhlir gives first hand information on the history and development of the second important
bentwood furniture manufacture firm Kohn, putting an end to speculations about the authorship of various models
produced by the firm. Uhlir names the important designers, discusses the products, based on their ideas and gives a
broad insight into the firms history. The translation of the book closes a gap within the very specialized field of
scientific work on bentwood furniture in the Germann speaking countries.