The idea for the exhibition came up many years ago when Johannes Mohr told us about his many restored canapés from the Bregenzerwald, all of which were dated between 1820 and 1840. The vorarlberg museum was enthusiastic about the subject of Biedermeier sofas and put on what everyone said was a successful exhibition in the atrium, a freely accessible area on the ground floor of the museum.

Canapés from the Biedermeier period can still be found in some Bregenzerwald parlours. The material, construction method and formal language are typical of the bourgeois furniture design of the early 19th century. The exhibition shows their diversity in form with the same construction principle by means of restored original sofas from the workshop of Johannes Mohr. But how did the exquisite furniture of that time come from the urban environment to the remote valley? This question has not yet been conclusively answered…