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.
Brass Dish / Ashtray by Werkstätte Carl Auböck, Austria 1960s
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Small oval dish in solid brass by Werkstätte Carl Auböck. The sculptural, asymmetrical form with one raised lip is characteristic of Auböck workshop design, combining functional us...
Brass
Carl Auböck #7252-1 Fruit Sieve, Brass, Modern Design, Austria, 2022
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck #7252-1 Fruit Sieve, Austria 2022.
Brass
Carl Auböck Mid-Century Modern Wooden Bowl with Brass & Wicker
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck Wooden Bowl or Basket, Austria 1960s. The height of the handle measures 18cm.
Brass
Brass bowl with central medallion by Werkstätte Carl Auböck, 1960s
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck Bowl, Austria 1960s.
Brass
Mid-Century Modern Wooden Bowl by Werkstätte Carl Auböck, 1960s
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck Wooden Bowl, Austria 1960s.
Wood
Patinated Brass Fruit Sieve by Werkstätte Carl Auböck, Austria 2022
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck #7226-2 Fruit Sieve in patinated brass, Austria 2022.
Brass
Large Minimalist Brass Fruit Bowl Shell by Carl Auböck, Austria, 1950s
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Kirchlengern, DE
Article: fruit bowl element Design: Carl Auböck, 1950s Producer: Auböck Workshop Vienna, Austria Origin: Austria Age: 1950s Descriptio...
Brass
Carl Auböck Model #7252-1 Polished Brass Fruit Bowl
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Carl Auböck Model #7252-1 polished brass fruit bowl. Designed in the 1950s, this incredibly refined and sculptural Viennese bowl is executed in poli...
Brass
Fruit Bowl, Brass, Carl Auböck Vienna, Austria
Located in Wien, AT
A fruit bowl made of wire brass by Carl Auböck.
Brass
Carl Auböck Model #4082 Brass Bowl
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Carl Auböck Model #4082 Brass Bowl Designed in the 1950s, this incredibly refined and sculptural Viennese bowl is executed in polished and darkly patinated brass. Originally conceiv...
Brass
Carl Auböck Model #4308 Patinated Brass Bowl
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Carl Aubo¨ck Model #4308 patinated brass bowl. Designed in the 1950s, this incredibly refined and sculptural Viennese bowl is executed in polished and darkly patinated brass. Origi...
Brass
Carl Auböck Model #3904 Brass Bowl
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Carl Auböck Model #3904 Brass Bowl Designed in the 1950s, this incredibly refined and sculptural Viennese bowl is executed in polished and darkly patinated brass. Originally conceiv...
Brass
In his workshop in Vienna, the fourth-generation artisan crafts the most covetable creations.
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.
