This group of 4 bentwood chairs were manufactured by Ligna of Czechoslovakia and sold in Singapore under the Cock Brand. Ligna was possibly one of the subsidiaries of Thonet, the company credited for designing and pioneering the bentwood manufacturing process, which revolutionised the design of furniture from the 19th century onwards. These chairs feature wooden parts formed through a steam-bending manufacturing technique, which the German-Austrian furnituremaker Michael Thonet developed in the 1840s. Bentwood furniture is often cited as one of the early and key examples of industrial design, as the manufacturing process involves designing smaller components that can be mass produced and put together on an assembly line. Thonet set up multiple locations in then-Czechoslovakia in order to be close to beech forests and cheaper costs of production, while Thonet's multilingual marketing efforts and presence at international fairs and expositions catalysed its international sales and circulation of the design worldwide. Bentwood chairs in Singapore have been closely associated with kopitiams (coffee shops) for their durability, comfort, and aesthetics. From the later part of the 20th century and the 21st century, the use of bentwood chairs have been phased out in favour of plastic furniture; designs associated with Thonet have come to be regarded as collectible design objects.