Bentwood technology was developed during the 19th century and brought to wide public popularity by the Austrian firm of Thonet. By 1900 they were making thousands of bentwood chairs every year, to furnish cafés and offices, as well as private houses. The architect and designer Josef Hoffmann, a leading figure in the Austrian design-reform movement known as the Vienna Secession, and a founder of the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops), used this established and cheap technology to create furniture in an entirely new style. Both the form and decoration of this chair use simple geometric forms. It was originally designed by Hoffmann for the Purkersdorf Sanatorium, one of the Werkstätte's most complete commissions, but it later went into commercial production.