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Werkstätte Carl Auböck Barware

Austrian

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.

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Creator: Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Glass and Brass Decanter by Carl Auböck
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Decanter by Austrian industrial designer Carl Auböck, circa 1950. The glass decanter is set in an brass stand with leather wrapped stem. Marked Germany. Dimensions 17” length x 1...
Category

1950s German Mid-Century Modern Vintage Werkstätte Carl Auböck Barware

Materials

Brass

Carl Auböck Pair of Bottle Openers in Leather and Steel, Austria, 1960s
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck set of two leather and steel bottle openers, Austria, 1960s.
Category

1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Werkstätte Carl Auböck Barware

Materials

Steel

Carl Auböck #4272-1 Corkstopper "Rooster", Austria, 2022
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck #4272-1 corkstopper "Rooster", Austria, 2022.
Category

2010s Austrian Werkstätte Carl Auböck Barware

Materials

Brass

Carl Auböck #4222 Corkscrew "Hand" with Sheath, Austria, 2022
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck #4222 corkscrew "Hand" with Sheath, Austria, 2022.
Category

2010s Austrian Werkstätte Carl Auböck Barware

Materials

Brass, Steel

Carl Auböck #4220-1 Corkstopper Hand "Wrist", Austria, 2022
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck #4220-1 corkstopper hand "Wrist", Austria 2022.
Category

2010s Austrian Werkstätte Carl Auböck Barware

Materials

Brass

Carl Auböck #7252-3 Fruit Sieve in Patinated Brass, Austria 2022
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck #7252-3 Fruit Sieve in patinated brass, Austria 2022.
Category

2010s Austrian Werkstätte Carl Auböck Barware

Materials

Brass

Carl Auböck #4568 Cork Screw "Horn", Austria, 2022
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck #4568 cork screw "Horn", Austria, 2022.
Category

2010s Austrian Werkstätte Carl Auböck Barware

Materials

Brass, Steel

Carl Auböck #3687 Corkscrew "Key", Austria, 2022
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck #3687 corkscrew "Key", Austria 2022.
Category

2010s Austrian Werkstätte Carl Auböck Barware

Materials

Brass, Steel

Carl Auböck #4280 Oval Cup, Austria, 2022
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck #4280 oval cup, Austria, 2022.
Category

2010s Austrian Werkstätte Carl Auböck Barware

Materials

Brass

Carl Auböck #4275 Corkscrew "Foot" with Sheath, Austria 2022
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck #4275 Corkscrew "Foot" with Sheath, Austria 2022.
Category

2010s Austrian Werkstätte Carl Auböck Barware

Materials

Brass, Steel

Carl Auböck #4279 Round Cup, Austria 2022
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck #4279 round cup, Austria 2022.
Category

2010s Austrian Werkstätte Carl Auböck Barware

Materials

Brass

Carl Auböck Brass Key Corkscrew with Elephant
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in London, GB
A cast brass corkscrew featuring an Elephant designed and made by Carl Auböck II in Vienna, Austria, in the 1950s. This item was made as an exclusive corporate gift and so is a rare ...
Category

1950s Austrian Modern Vintage Werkstätte Carl Auböck Barware

Materials

Brass

Werkstätte Carl Auböck barware for sale on 1stDibs.

Werkstätte Carl Auböck barware are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of metal and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Werkstätte Carl Auböck barware, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. We have 84 vintage editions of these items in-stock, while there is 18 modern edition to choose from as well. Many of the original barware by Werkstätte Carl Auböck were created in the mid-century modern style in europe during the 20th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider barware by Walter Bosse, Herta Baller, and Richard Rohac. Prices for Werkstätte Carl Auböck barware can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $202 and can go as high as $3,235, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $690.

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