Vienna: Applied Arts in a Kafeehaus Culture
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the wide world of craft Vienna: Applied Arts in a Kafeehaus Culture A century ager xe Wiener Werkwäye, xe applied arts are flourising, mixing tradition and innovation. story by Opposite: Right: Martina Windels Ina Seidl Daniel Kroh with Wien, 2000, porcelain, Walking-Chair ribbon, largest handle Design Studio 2 x 1¾ x ½ in. Hard Working Furniture, work- Above: men’s overalls, Klaus Fritsch 27½ x 31½ x 15¾ in. for Lobmeyr Whiskey decanter and glass. A recent exhibition of Ina Seidl’s jewelry has advanced to be a major player in the are key when creating a collection like Hard in Vienna at the Museum für Angewandte international design scene,” Trierenberg Working Furniture, a group of chairs and Kunst (Museum of Applied Arts), known says. “We are excited to be part of this and sofas made in conjunction with the Berlin by its German acronym, mak, included the hope to broaden this trend in Austria and fashion designer Daniel Kroh, who re- pendant Wien (Vienna), a group of porce- in Europe.” cycles workmen’s overalls to make multi- lain hearts assembled from assorted coffee Across town, Karl Emilio Pircher and colored covers for the upholstered pieces. cup handles suspended from a red string, Fidel Peugeot have combined their skills to Pircher points to the importance of De- as homage to her hometown and its Kaffee- form the Walking-Chair Design Studio. In parture—a program initiated by the city in haus culture. this street-level office/workshop, which 2003 to provide small and emerging creative It was that Viennese coffeehouse tradi- functions as a showroom and retail outlet businesses with grants and access to knowl- tion that inspired Lothar Trierenberg to and incorporates the small Walking-Chair edge—in helping to establish Vienna as a open Das Möbel (the piece of furniture), Gallery, the two have worked together for destination for creative talent. The city was combining a café with a furniture show- 10 years designing typography, interiors, one of the first in Europe to offer a substan- room to create what he calls “Vienna’s best- exhibitions and a furniture series created tial support program for creative industries known public living room,” where visitors from industrial Styrofoam packaging mate- after recognizing the applied arts and de- experience furniture made by Austrian rial sprayed with a polymer coating tradi- sign scene as a valuable and expandable as- designers. At Das Möbel you can use chairs tionally used in construction. Pircher, who set, given Vienna’s tradition of handmade by the woodworking team Katja and Wer- studied at the University of Applied Arts products such as furniture, glass and tex- ner Nussbaumer, who combine the beloved in Vienna, views design as a tool enabling tiles fabricated in small workshops. Explore Vienna! Visit bent-plywood seats of old Viennese trams creativity. “We come from the applied arts, One of these businesses is Lobmeyr, americancraftmag.org with a contemporary steel frame, merging and our approach is hands-on. We freely renowned for producing and selling hand- for even more informa- / Georg Mayer. tion and photos. Click nostalgic and sustainable elements; or try move back and forth between one-of-a-kind blown glass of the highest quality since on our Wide World mak one of the solid-looking benches by Dieter and industrial production methods, estab- 1823. From its prime retail location in the of Craft interactive map Gorjanz, a carpenter who works with lishing a dialogue between the handmade Kärtnergasse, just a few steps from St. Ste- and find recommended places to visit, shop, freshly cut oak that continues to move and and industry.” Experimentation, coopera- phen’s Cathedral, Lobmeyr continues to eat and play! Seidl photo © shift long after each piece is built. “Austria tion with other designers and sustainability work with designers like the American oct/nov 10 american craft 069 the wide world of craft Left: Ted Muehling to create glassware; it is free-form collection of flowing, Dalí-esque Andrea Auer an oft-cited example of the successful mar- shapes, which are covered with a gray grid The White Tube, electric wire. riage of traditional craft skills and tech- of Chesterfield-style leather upholstery, niques with fresh ideas. reflects upon the persistence and mutability Below: But this is not the first time that young of traditional forms. Barbara Bloom Installation of designers with new concepts and tradi- Another play on tradition is Petra Zim- Kaffeehaus chairs tional craft workshops have collaborated mermann’s reinvention of baroque elements at mak. to create designs recognized well beyond by casting pieces of costume jewelry in Austria. The Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna resin. Motivated by “my curiosity to peek Workshops), founded in 1903 by Josef inside the treasure chest, I am careful to Hoffmann and Koloman Moser as a pro- investigate the traditional role of glamour duction community of visual artists, also in order to expand the definition of jew- relied on the high level of traditional craft elry,” Zimmerman says. Through appro- skills available here. With a commitment priation and reinterpretation, she removes to applied arts modeled after the British the found pieces from their original con- Arts and Crafts movement and a desire text without rendering their original deco- to create a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work rative language moot. of art) by designing products and objects Zimmerman’s jewelry is showcased at of high quality for all aspects of daily life, Galerie v&v among experimental work Above: the Wiener Werkstätte succeeded in influ- by a variety of young Austrian and interna- Petra Zimmermann encing modern design well beyond its liq- tional jewelry and textile designers. Owner Bracelet, 2010, vintage uidation in 1932. Veronika Schwarzinger’s discoveries in- bag, polymethyl- methacrylate, gold leaf, The exhibition displays at mak, which clude Agnes Czifra’s one-of-a kind textiles blackened silver. holds the Wiener Werkstätte archives, made from recycled ribbons, Katja Kor- underwent a major redesign in the mid- sawe’s jewelry from rubber bands and cut- Right: Gudrun Wallenböck 90s. Barbara Bloom, a sculptor, created up pantyhose, balloon rings by Dimitar and Dörte Kaufman’s a display for the traditional Viennese Belchev, and Sonja Bischur’s knitted neck- shop, Hinterland, is chair, the iconic laminated bentwood ex- pieces that function as both fashion acces- known for Wallenböck’s Walking Skirts—aprons amples designed by Thonet, by placing sory and jewelry. that incorporate photo- the coffeehouse chairs behind a milky glass “Vienna used to be a gray city, and one graphs of the Austrian screen and lighting them from behind. could sense its proximity to the eastern part countryside. Their graphic silhouettes illustrate the of a still-divided Europe,” says Ursi Fürtler, Bottom: designs as if they were featured in a furni- a textile artist exhibiting hand-printed Robert Stadler ture catalog: simple forms, easily identi- scarves at Galerie v&v. But the mood has Pools & Pouf! couch, 2004, upholstered fied, with mass appeal for the turn-of-the- changed over the last 30 years, she points leather, pvc, plywood, “We come from xe applied arts, and our approab is hands-on. 20th-century consumer. out. “It is a vibrant city now and its inhabit- 8 x 3¹ ⁄6 x 3 ft. We freely move bad and forx between one-of-a-kind pieces and Nostalgia for tradition is given a con- ants are hopeful and energized.” temporary twist in Hinterland, a shop “An alternative cultural scene in the late induwrial produeion mexods, establising a dialogue between opened by Gudrun Wallenböck, an archi- ’70s and early ’80s has influenced the face xe handmade and induwry.” —Karl Emilio Pirber tect, and Dörte Kaufman, an art historian, of the city and contributed to its current which carries contemporary handmade vitality,” adds Martina Zwölfer, a ceramist clothing, most notably Wallenböck’s well-known for her tall slip-cast Three- Walking Skirts, incorporating photo- Ribbon vases, who just opened a showroom graphs of the Austrian countryside, includ- with Bernadette Hahnenkamp in Vienna’s ing mountains, wooden farmhouses, cows eighth district. and edelweiss. These motifs are printed Andrea Auer, another jewelry designer, on a reversible double-apron design offer- who works with plastic-coated electric ing a new use for the apron, an important wire and clear foil to create modern inter- component of the dirndl—a traditional pretations of the classic pearl-drop earring Austrian dress with a tight bodice and full and linked chains, praises Vienna as a me- skirt still commonly worn by many wom- tropolis with international flair but a man- en across the country regardless of their ageable, human scale. “I love living here,” social standing. Auer says. “I value the quality of life.The And at the Klaus Engelhorn Collection, market is close by, and the next café is just the artist Robert Stadler offers an updated around the corner.” interpretation of another traditional Martina Windels is a jeweler living in Provi- Pools & Pouf! photo © Patrick Gries, Paris. object, the sofa, with Pools & Pouf! This Auer photo Beranek / Bloom © Gerald Zugman MAK. dence, ri. oct/nov 10 american craft 071.