Small Magnifying Glass Topped Container by Carl Aubock
View Similar Items
Small Magnifying Glass Topped Container by Carl Aubock
About the Item
- Creator:Werkstätte Carl Auböck (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 1.97 in (5 cm)Diameter: 1.97 in (5 cm)
- Style:Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:
- Seller Location:London, GB
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU8910940034
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.
- Initialed Bottle Opener by Carl Auböck IIBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in London, GBA cast brass bottle opener featuring the letter U made by Carl Auböck II, Vienna circa 1955. The piece is formed of two geometric shapes, a circle -inside which the black patinate...Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Modern Barware
MaterialsBrass
- Fondue Set by Werkstätte Carl Auböck IIBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in London, GBVintage fondue pot and burner by Carl Auböck II, Vienna, circa 1950. The pot and its lid are made out of spun tinned copper, while the burner is spun brass. The pot, its lid and the burner, all have brass handles with ebony grips. The sculptural tripod stand composed of three vertical bars joined in a triangular shape is made of solid brass and stamped 'MADE IN AUSTRIA Auböck...Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Modern Serving Pieces
MaterialsBrass, Copper, Tin
- Carl Auböck Brush Pen HolderBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in London, GBA wonderful little pen holder by Carl Auböck. Handmade in Vienna in the 1950s. A beautiful delicate sculptural piece.Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Modern More Furniture and Collectibles
MaterialsWalnut
- Carl Auböck Coin Bottle StopperBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in London, GBVintage coin bottle stopper made by the Auböck Werkstätte in the 1950s. In cast brass, it bears the Auböck stamp on the coin. In very good condition.Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Modern Barware
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck Cognac Leather PitcherBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in London, GBGreat glass pitcher with a natural cognac leather handle and cover.Category
Vintage 1960s Austrian Modern Crystal Serveware
MaterialsLeather
- Pitcher with Brass Handle by Carl AuböckBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in London, GBA glass pitcher with leather sleeve and brass handle by Carl Auböck II, Vienna, 1950s. The leather sleeve settles at the top third of the glass and is of a beautifully aged light ta...Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Pitchers
MaterialsBrass
- Cigarette Box by Carl AuböckBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Banská Štiavnica, SKBrass and wooden cigarette box, designed by Carl Auböck, shows a beautiful guilloche top surface. The brass shows fine patina, enriched by the contrast of the wooden sides of the box...Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Cigar Boxes and Humidors
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck Box, Austria, 1960sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Berlin, DECarl Auböck horn and brass box, Austria 1960s.Category
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
MaterialsBrass
- 1930s Carl Aubock I Storage Box / Cigarette Dispenser with Roll Top, AustriaBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Vienna, ATA rare storage box or cigarette dispenser with a roll down lid from the 1930s, this is an early design by Carl Aubock I. Handmade of walnut wood and...Category
Vintage 1930s Austrian Art Deco Decorative Boxes
MaterialsBrass, Nickel
- Art Deco Box Carl Auböck, 1930sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Vienna, ATArt Deco Box made of wood, inside copper. By Carl Auböck, 1930s. Listed in catalog "Die Kataloge der Werkstätte Carl Auböck 1925-1975" [The catalogs of the Carl Auböck workshop 19...Category
Vintage 1930s Austrian Art Deco Jewelry Boxes
MaterialsCopper
- Carl Aubock Brass Cigar Snuffer #4117By Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Chalk Hill, PACarl Aubock brass cigar snuffer #4117. Produced by Carl Auböck IV in the original Auböck workshop in Vienna, Austria using the same standards, high-quality materials, molds and techn...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Cigar Boxes an...
MaterialsBrass
$240 / item - Carl Aubock Brass Cigar Snuffer #4117By Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Chalk Hill, PACarl Aubock Brass Cigar Snuffer #4117. Produced by Carl Auböck IV in the original Auböck workshop in Vienna, Austria using the same standards, high-quality materials, molds and techn...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Mid-Century Modern Cigar Boxes an...
MaterialsBrass
$240 / item