Carl Auböck #4243 Nutcracker
About the Item
- Creator:Werkstätte Carl Auböck (Designer, Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 0.79 in (2 cm)Width: 6.3 in (16 cm)Depth: 1.97 in (5 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:2010s
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Berlin, DE
- Reference Number:
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: Berlin, Germany
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 10 days of delivery.
- Carl Auböck Nutcracker, Austria, 1960sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Berlin, DECarl Auböck nutcracker, Austria 1960s.Category
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Tableware
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Auböck Wooden Tray, Austria, 1960sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Berlin, DECarl Auböck tray, Austria, 1960s.Category
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Tableware
MaterialsWood
- Carl Auböck Cheese Dome, Austria 1960sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Berlin, DECarl Auböck Cheese Dome, Austria 1960s. The height given applies to the height of the glass cover. The height including the wicker top is 20cm.Category
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Tableware
MaterialsWood, Wicker, Glass
- Carl Auböck #4051 Nutcracker with CaneBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Berlin, DENutcracker with cane #4051 by Carl Auböck.Category
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Serving Pieces
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
- Carl Auböck Bookends # 3652By Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Berlin, DEClassic pair of Carl Auböck bookends in polished brass.Category
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Bookends
MaterialsBrass
- Signed Carl Auböck Brass Nutcracker with Leather HandlesBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Vienna, ATThis nutcracker is an original piece of Mid-Century craftsmanship. The design and execution by the Wiener Werkstatte Carl Aubock. Fully signed Aubock and Made in Austria. It is made ...Category
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Tableware
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Aubock Mid-Century Teak & Brass Nutcracker, Vienna, Austria, 1950sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Vienna, ATA beautiful midcentury modernist nutcracker, designed and executed by Carl Aubock in the 1950s. Made of wood and brass. In very good condition, with marginal patina on the brass.Category
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Tableware
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Aubock Mid-Century Brass and Leather Nutcracker, Vienna, Austria, 1950sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Vienna, ATA beautiful Modernist brass nutcracker designed and executed by Werkstätte Carl Aubock in the 1950s. In good condition with charming patina. Marked.Category
20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Tableware
MaterialsBrass
- Carl Aubock "Bomber" Salt and Pepper Shakers, 1950sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Chalk Hill, PARare 1950's Carl Aubock "Bomber" salt and pepper shakers. Designed by Carl Auböck II and produced in the Auböck workshop in Vienna, Austria. Auböck designs are unique, collectable and vary from works of art to useful daily household items...Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Tableware
MaterialsHorn, Wood
- Carl Aubock for Amboss 30 Piece Flatware SetBy Amboss Austria, Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Atlanta, GAModerniststainless steel flatware set, designed by Carl Aubock for Amboss, Austria, circa 1960s. This is a 5 piece set for 6 guests, 30 pieces total. It is constructed of dishwasher ...Category
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Tableware
MaterialsStainless Steel
- Carl Auböck Fish Bottle Opener Neptun Vienna Austria, 1950sBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Krefeld, DECarl Auböck steel and leather fish bottle opener circa late 1950s.Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Tableware
MaterialsMetal
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Carl Auböck IV Builds on His Family Legacy — One Brass Object at a Time
In his workshop in Vienna, the fourth-generation artisan crafts the most covetable creations.
Original in Berlin’s Lars Triesch Has Turned a Passion for Design into a Booming Business
His two gallery spaces in the German capital bring together thousands of pieces ranging from mid-century classics and Murano glass to covetable reproductions manufactured in-house.