Carl Aubock Brush
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Baskets
Wood
Vintage 1960s Desk Sets
Wood
Vintage 1950s Desk Sets
Horn
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Desk Sets
Horn
Vintage 1950s Austrian Modern More Furniture and Collectibles
Walnut
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Bedroom Sets
Horn
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
Horn, Wood
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
Wood, Horn
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Baskets
Wood
20th Century Austrian Modern More Furniture and Collectibles
Leather, Walnut
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern More Desk Accessories
Horn
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern More Desk Accessories
Horn
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern More Desk Accessories
Horn
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Coat Racks and Stands
Leather, Walnut
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Coat Racks and Stands
Horn, Goat Hair
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall-mounted Sculptures
Leather, Mirror, Wood, Walnut
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Goat Hair, Wood, Walnut
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Desk Accessories
Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall Brackets
Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall Brackets
Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall Brackets
Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall Brackets
Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall Brackets
Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall Brackets
Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall Brackets
Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall Brackets
Nickel
2010s Austrian More Desk Accessories
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern More Desk Acce...
Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern More Desk Acce...
Nickel
Vintage 1940s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Tableware
Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall Brackets
Brass, Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall Brackets
Brass, Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall Brackets
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Doors and Gates
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Doors and Gates
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Doors and Gates
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Doors and Gates
Brass
Mid-20th Century Austrian Organic Modern Decorative Art
Horn, Leather
Vintage 1950s More Desk Accessories
Horn
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Tableware
Stainless Steel
Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Desk Sets
Metal
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Objects
Walnut
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Desk Accessories
Walnut
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern More Furniture and Collectibles
Walnut
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern More Desk Accessories
Horn
Vintage 1950s Austrian Platters and Serveware
Nutwood
2010s Austrian Other Chandeliers and Pendants
Slate, Brass
20th Century Austrian Modern Desk Accessories
Walnut
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Desk Accessories
Horn, Leather
Vintage 1960s Austrian Modern More Furniture and Collectibles
Leather, Walnut
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Objects
Walnut
Vintage 1950s Austrian Modern Magazine Racks and Stands
Brass
20th Century Modern Trunks and Luggage
Steel
20th Century Austrian Modern More Furniture and Collectibles
Horn
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Serving Pieces
Steel
20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Desk Accessories
Brass
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall-mounted Sculptures
Walnut
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Barware
Stainless Steel
20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Tableware
Bakelite
Mid-20th Century Austrian Organic Modern Wall-mounted Sculptures
Nutwood
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Carl Aubock Brush For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much is a Carl Aubock Brush?
Werkstätte Carl Auböck for sale on 1stDibs
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.