(1906 - present)
Carl Auböck isn’t just a person, it’s a family affair! It’s the name of several generations of the Auböck family, which has managed and owned the Werkstätte Carl Auböck in Vienna for more than 120 years. This workshop was part of the Austrian Wiener Werkstätte art movement and its products are renowned for their
modernist (1) design.
Carl Auböck I was a goldsmith before founding the family workshop in 1906. The workshop, on Bernardgasse, was a bronze goods company and it was well known for its Wiener Bronzen - small bronze figurines popular with collectors. Carl Carl Auböck I died in 1925 and was replaced by Carl Auböck II (1900 - 1957), who introduced some design changes and brought in the modernism which would put the workshop on the map.
After World War II Carl II expanded the workshop and adopted a strategy of using a basic design with lots of varieties. This allowed the workshop to produce more than 500 new objects between 1946 and 1950. These 500-plus designs were influenced by Bauhaus and Carl II’s work on smaller domestic and office objects at this time made him very popular.
Carl Auböck II won four gold medals at the
Milan Triennale in 1954 (2) for stylised metalware.
The son of Carl II, Carl III (1924 - 1993) started working with his father at Werkstätte but he had studied architecture at the Vienna University of Technology. Carl III designed private houses, industrial buildings and apartments in Austria and all over the world.
Auböck also studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and met
Ray and Charles Eames (3) there, among others. These greats inspired Auböck to bring in American trends to the workshop to make them more appealing to the international market.
These moves helped the workshop to gain international status and it started collaborating with other design houses such as Pierre Cardin and Hermès.
Carl Auböck IV (born in 1954) also trained in metal craft at the Werkstätte and, just as his father was, he’s a practising architect. After the death of his father he managed the workshop with his mother and now runs the Werkstätte and oversees the design and development of a new 500-piece collection which includes items such as the Horn Candle Lamp.