The technique of wood bending is a very ancient technique existing in the craftsmanship of different civilizations, but remained in the corners for a long time due to a limited advantage in productivity.
The intuition of Michael Thonet took the moves from the observation that fresh wood is more flexible than dry wood : Starting from this consideration, Thonet and some of his contemporaries tested the bending of the wood sheets packets, dipped in boiling glue and then dried into rigid forms.