Josef Hoffmann Nest of Tables J. J. Kohn, 1904 Wiener Werkstatte

Important Jugenstil Bentwood Stool #715 by Otto Wagner. Designed for the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 by J.J.Kohn. Original upholstery and surface.

Crafted by A. & H. Lejambre in Philadelphia, circa 1880. The top is mahogany bordered with ebony and brass trim, and is inlaid with an Egyptian scarab and a bee in exotic woods. Cons...

Extremely rare pair of Wiener Werkstätte upholstered chairs. In the original Wiener Werkstatte fabric. All designed by Josef Hoffmann. Origina...

A simple, almost cubical table (27x31x30 5/8"), with wonderfully veneered surfaces. Two leaves under the top which when extended, expand the surface to a total 65 5/8 x 31. The simp...

Set of four Nesting Tables by Josef Hoffmann, Vienna, 1904

This exquisite set of nesting tables, designed by the renowned Josef Hoffmann and produced by Jacob & Josef Kohn in Vienna around 1905/06, is a testament to the Art Nouveau movement....

Remaining stock from the original adhesive label under the smallest table Bib.: Das Interieur, IX, 1908, p. 28 / Il mobile moderno, Gebrüder Thonet Vienna, Jacob & Josef Kohn, Giov...

Josef Hoffmann Gueridon. Made with bentwood. Vienna Secession Circa 1910, Austria. Vintage condition. The Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann was a central figure in the evolution of modern design, and a leader in an aesthetic movement born in Europe in the late 19th century that rejected florid, extravagant ornamentation in favor of a new emphasis on simplicity of line. As a founder of the turn-of-the-century Wiener Werkstätte (in English: the Viennese Workshops), a design cooperative that produced superbly crafted furniture and housewares, Hoffmann was a pioneering practitioner of what would become a fundamental principle of modernism: that good design is a way of life. Hoffmann came of age amidst a shift in the culture of the applied arts, as a conservative order that looked only to the past for inspiration was pushed aside. But what, exactly, would replace that order was in question, and Hoffmann’s career embodies the developing patterns of design’s new spirit. His architectural work reflects his time as a student of the Vienna architect Otto Wagner, who disdained excessive decoration and employed new materials such as steel girders and reinforced concrete to create buildings with airy, open interiors full of light. As a designer of furniture and interiors, Hoffmann was consistently open-minded about the aesthetics he explored. He was an early adherent of the flowing, organic forms of the Art Nouveau design movement that began to flourish in the late 1880s, but by the opening of the Wiener Werkstätte in 1903, Hoffmann’s designs embraced the beauty of geometry in pieces that feature grids and angular forms. Hoffmann’s greatest works reflect his ability to combine seemingly conflicting design visions into coherent wholes. His architectural masterpiece, the Stoclet Palace in Brussels, has an exterior that groups together simple geometric forms and spacious interiors marked by subtly naturalistic design details that lend rooms an air of charm and geniality. Hoffmann’s signature furniture design is an adjustable lounge chair, the Sitzmaschine (1905), that marries a curving frame with square and rectangular back- and side rests. This piece, like so many others by Hoffmann, reflects a groundbreaking, forward-thinking appreciation for the union of different looks and sources that marks the best of interior design in our own day. Moreover, items offered on these pages, which range from enameled silver jewelry, to a silver flower vase basket, to lighting pendants and sconces...