The Werkstätte Hagenauer was established in Vienna in 1898 by the father of designer Franz Hagenauer, Carl Hagenauer (1871-1928). The company’s most successful products were Viennese Secession metal goods, which were featured in many exhibitions and collected numerous awards. Designs lacked ornamentation, focusing rather on the object’s function. The workshop produced figures created by Josef Hoffmann and Otto Prutscher, as well as everyday items like corkscrews, bookends and inkwells, to name a few. Every design emphasized the unique shape and perfect craftsmanship of the object. The Werkstätte Hagenauer was the only place in the world producing this kind of arts and crafts objects. Despite the sculptures being almost a century old, most of them still look extremely contemporary. (cru)
