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.
Carl Auböck Brass Nutcracker, Mid-Century Modern, Austria, 1960s
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Brass nutcracker by Werkstätte Carl Auböck with curved handles and ribbed detailing near the hinge. Sculptural mid-century design with warm patina and light surface wear from age and...
Brass
Mid-Century Modern Brass Nutcracker by Werkstätte Carl Auböck, Austria
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Nutcracker #4243 by Carl Auböck in solid brass.
Brass
Nutcracker with Cane-Wrapped Handles by Werkstätte Carl Auböck, Austria
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
This hand nutcracker by Werkstätten Carl Auböck combines solid cast metal with tightly wrapped cane handles, transforming a simple kitchen tool into a sculptural object. The oval c...
Brass
Carl Auböck Elefant Corkscrew, Brass & Steel, Mid-Century, 1960s
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Key-shaped brass corkscrew by Werkstätte Carl Auböck. Triangular handle with logo and elephant motif, a screw-out corkscrew, and a bottle-opener cut-out at the end. Light wear and pa...
Brass, Steel
Carl Auböck Brass Shoe Bottle Opener, Mid-Century Modern, 1960s
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck Shoe shaped bottle opener, Austria, 1960s.
Brass
Mid-Century Modern Brass Pipe Holder by Werkstätte Carl Auböck, 1960s
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Carl Auböck Pipe Holder, Austria 1960s.
Brass
Carl Aubock Mid-Century Brass and Leather Nutcracker, Vienna, Austria, 1950s
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Vienna, AT
A beautiful Modernist brass nutcracker designed and executed by Werkstätte Carl Aubock in the 1950s. In good condition with charming patina. Marked.
Brass
Carl Auböck Nutcracker with Leather Handles, 1950s
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Wien, Au
Carl Auböck nutcracker with leather handles, 1950s. Original condition.
Brass
Signed Carl Auböck Brass Nutcracker with Leather Handles
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Vienna, AT
This 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 ...
Brass
Carl Aubock Vienna Signed Vintage Brass & Leather Nutcracker, Austria, 1950s
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Vienna, AT
A beautiful brass nutcracker, model no. 4051-4, designed and manufactured in the 1950s by Werkstätte Carl Auböck in Vienna, Austria. This heavy, solid brass piece features handles wr...
Brass
Austrian nutcracker by Carl Auböck made of leather & brass
Located in Wien, AT
A beautiful and elegant nutcracker made and signed by Carl Auböck in Austria around 1950s. The nutcracker is made of brass and leather.
Brass
Vintage Carl Auböck Nutcracker Teak and Brass, Vienna Austria Modern Design 1950
By Poul Knudsen, Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Silkeborg, Silkeborg
Vintage nutcracker by Carl Auböck, Wiener Werkstätte, Austria. Made ca. 1950s. It´s made from teak and brass. It remains in very good condition with a beautiful patina.
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.
