Nutcracker and Bowl by Carl Auböck
View Similar Items
Nutcracker and Bowl by Carl Auböck
About the Item
- Creator:Werkstätte Carl Auböck (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 5.52 in (14 cm)Diameter: 10.04 in (25.5 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: LU89101237624
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
- 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 Black Leather Cork StopperBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in London, GBGreat leather bottle stopper with the original leather string.Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Modern Barware
MaterialsLeather
- Carl Auböck Brass Key Corkscrew with ElephantBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in London, GBA 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
Vintage 1950s Austrian Modern Barware
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck Jug and Three GlassesBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in London, GBVintage set of one jug and three small glasses by Carl Auböck II, Vienna, circa 1950. Every piece of the set is made of handblown glass; every small glass has a 2,5 cm wide stripe o...Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Modern Glass
MaterialsBrass
$2,246 / set - 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
- Wood Nutcracker Designed by Carl Auböck IIIBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Chicago, ILThis nutcracker by Carl Auböck III by is a simply elegant design. The wooden sides feel very nice in hand, and the ebony and maple contrast and complem...Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Barware
MaterialsEbony, Maple
- Carl Auböck Midcentury Brass Nutcracker, Austria, 1950sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Vienna, ATA beautiful modernist nutcracker from the 1950s, made of solid brass, designed and manufactured by Carl Auböck in Vienna/Austria.Category
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Serving Pieces
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck Nutcracker with Leather Handles, 1950sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Wien, ATCarl Auböck nutcracker with leather handles, 1950s. Original condition.Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Barware
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck Nutcracker in Brass, Austria 1960sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Berlin, DECarl Auböck Nutcracker in Brass, Austria 1960s.Category
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Barware
MaterialsBrass
- Signed Carl Auböck Nutcracker in Brass, Austria 1950sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Wien, ATSigned Carl Auböck Nutcracker in Brass, Austria 1950s Original patina Original conditionCategory
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Barware
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck Heavy Nutcracker BrassLocated in Wien, ATCarl Auböck heavy nutcracker brass. Original condition.Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Barware
MaterialsBrass