| Art Nouveau Vienna produced some of the finest talents in architecture, painting and the applied arts. In 1903 two of them, Josef Hoffmann and Kolo Moser, founded the Wiener Werkstätte with the financial backing of banker and art connoisseur Fritz Waerndorfer. Inspired by the ideas of the Art and Crafts Movement, they aimed at a revival of traditional craftsmanship in the face of industrial mass production. Their designs and products ranged from cabinetmaking and metalwork to leatherwork, textiles, wallpaper, and even fashion. They had their own workshops, but also collaborated with well-established Viennese companies such as Lobmeyr and Backhausen. We introduce you to their philosophy, their connections with Charles Rennie and Margaret Mackintosh from Glasgow and Frank Lloyd Wright from Chicago, and show you some of the finest examples of their products in and around Kärntnerstrasse and in the impressive Museum of Applied Arts, which owns their estate. |
