Signed Carl Auböck Midcentury Brass Foot Paperweight Handmade Sculpture
About the Item
- Creator:Werkstätte Carl Auböck (Designer, Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 2 in (5.08 cm)Width: 3.5 in (8.89 cm)Depth: 1.5 in (3.81 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (In the Style Of)
- Materials and Techniques:Brass,Polished
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:2021
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Vienna, AT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1015224965542
Werkstätte Carl Auböck
In Vienna’s Neubau district, a beautiful Biedermeier townhouse has been home to the Werkstätte Carl Auböck for more than 100 years. Inside the workshop, where production continues to this day, countless objects line the shelves, walls, tabletops and desktops.
The Viennese artist and designer Carl Auböck II was one of the quirkiest and most delightful and collectible of modern designers. A rather odd duck in the world of decorative arts, he was a peculiar talent whose specialties included smaller desk accessories and tabletop pieces such as corkscrews, paperweights, letter openers, bookends and bottle stoppers. He rendered these pieces in a combination of metal — most often brass — and such elemental materials as leather, knobby wood and animal horn, creating forms that could be almost Surrealist, from hands and feet to keys, birds and amoebae.
As a boy, Auböck was precocious and artistic. He studied drawing and at the same time trained in the workshop of his father, Karl Heinrich Auböck, a popular maker of traditional bronze figurines and collectibles. In 1919, Carl II went to Germany to study at the Bauhaus, where he was a pupil of the progressive artist and theorist Johannes Itten. While the Bauhaus is most associated with the rigidly ordered, functionalist architecture of its directors Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the school was in reality a liberal, spirited place — a crucible for imaginative, playful and avant-garde art and design. It was this spirit that imbued Carl II’s work from the time he left in 1921.
In 1922 or ’23, Carl Auböck II returned to Vienna to help care for his ailing father, and he took over the business. He created the Werkstätte Carl Auböck and a legacy that earned his objects cult status among collectors. The business was passed on to his descendants, who run the atelier that is still in operation today. Today, objects designed by Carl II make up 90 percent of Werkstätte Carl Auböck’s production, joined by the creations of architect and designer Carl IV, his grandson.
Vintage Auböck designs have a special character, a patina that only emphasizes how much the pieces have been loved and used. Carl Aubock II’s small furniture items — leather- or caned-sling magazine racks; free-edge wooden side tables with tubular bronze legs; wicker serving trolleys with turned beechwood wheels — are elegant and purposeful. His bijoux desktop objects, library tools, ashtrays and barware pieces evince a kind of mirthful practicality. They seem to ask: “If you need a corkscrew, or a paperweight, or a candlestick, why not make it fun as well as functional?” And indeed, why not?
Find a collection of vintage Werkstätte Carl Auböck mirrors, seating, tables, decorative objects and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Vienna, Austria
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Signed Carl Auböck Midcentury Brass Foot Paperweight Handmade SculptureBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Vienna, ATA charming modernist paperweight in the shape of a foot, designed by Carl Auböck in the 1950s. Handmade of solid polished brass by Werkstätte Auböck in Austria. Fully stamped and m...Category
20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Paperweights
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck Monumental Brass Foot Sculpture, Werkstätte Auböck, AustriaBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Vienna, ATWe are offering this impressive 13“ long and 8“high brass foot sculpture, designed and manufactured by Werkstätte Carl Auböck, Vienna, Austria. This the second ever-made piece of this giant foot...Category
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck Handcrafted Wall Sculpture Napoleon #4271, Brass, AustriaBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Vienna, ATA beautiful wall sculpture „Napoleon", model #4059, designed by Carl Aubock II back in 1953. A charming object, handcrafted by Werkstätte Auböck in V...Category
2010s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Aubock Oversized MidCentury Paper Clip Brass Paperweight, Austria, 1950sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Vienna, ATA vintage original old giant XXL brass paper clip from the 1950s, to be used as a paperweight. Designed and executed by Carl Aubock, Austria. In good...Category
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Desk Accessories
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck Handcrafted Midcentury Foot Brass Figurine Key Ring Chain HolderBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Vienna, ATA charming modernist foot keyring / keyholder / keychain, designed by Carl Auböck in the 1950s. Handmade of solid polished brass by Werkstätte Auböck in Austria. Fully stamped and ma...Category
20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Collectible Jewelry
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck Midcentury Brass Seahorse Handmade Key Ring Chain HolderBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Vienna, ATA charming modernist seahorse keyring / key holder / keychain, designed by Carl Auböck in the 1950s. Handmade of solid polished brass by Werkstätte Auböck in Austria. Fully stamped a...Category
20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Collectible Jewelry
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck Model #4273 'Foot' Brass PaperweightBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Glendale, CACarl Auböck model #4273 'Foot' brass paperweight. Designed in the 1950s, this incredibly clean and refined Viennese paperweight is hand fabricated in polished brass by Werkstätte Car...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Paperweights
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck Pipe Paperweight, Brass, SignedBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in New York, NYCarl Auböck Pipe Paperweight, Brass, Signed. Small scale meticulously detailed brass pipe paperweight by Viennese designer Carl Auböck.Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Paperweights
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck #5039 'Jingle Bell' PaperweightBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Glendale, CACarl Auböck #5039 'Jingle Bell' Paperweight. Originally designed by Carl Auböck III in the early 1960s, this handmade piece was inspired by charming sl...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Figurative Scu...
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck Paperweight "Foot", Austria 1960sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Berlin, DECarl Auböck paperweight "Foot" in Brass, Austria 1960s.Category
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Paperweights
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Aubock "My Son" Patinated Brass Sculpture #4752By Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Chalk Hill, PACarl Aubock "My Son" Patinated Brass Sculpture #4752 designed in the 1950s. Currently produced by Carl Auböck IV in the original Auböck workshop in Vienna, Austria using the same sta...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Figurative Scu...
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Aubock Patinated Brass "Walking" Figural Sculpture #4058By Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Chalk Hill, PACarl Aubock Patinated Brass "Walking" Figural Sculpture #4058 designed in the 1950's. Currently produced by Carl Auböck IV in the original Auböck workshop in Vienna, Austria using th...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Figurative Scu...
MaterialsBrass