Carl Auböck, In the Workshop

Hopefully this post will get you very very inspired, the photography featured here is pretty astonishing to say the least and I’m very lucky to be showcasing it to you all today. As you probably know from previous posts I’m a big fan of Carl Auböck and his creations, it’s great to look back at these past designers and see their influence, also to see how they used to work and what methods they used to use to make these items. I doubt you’ll see much better photography of the man than this, it gives us a big insight into his working environment and how him and his apprentices created designs that were, and still are, a mixture between architectural, functional and sculptural. I would like to thank the Carl Auböck family for emailing me over some special scanned in photographs just for the site, I had a hard time making a selection since they’re all so good but in the end I whittled it down to 14 (not much of a compromise I know).

If you’re not familiar with Carl Auböck he was born in 1900 and was a painter and designer, becoming one of the most remarkable artists to come out of Austria. After working as an apprentice bronze worker and engraver for his family business in the early 1900’s he went on to be a student of Johannes Itten, a Swiss expressionist painter and designer, at the Bauhaus in Weimar. After graduating he took over his father’s workshop and in the early 40’s he developed a very particular style which many consider based around modernism, in fact he became the face of Austrian modernism. What I like about the Auböck creations is the fact that they’re so unique, most of the items involve some sort of metal, usually bronze, and I think that these days it’s really unusual to find items made out of this material. Also it’s nice how not much has changed over the years and the workshop has focused on it’s own niche, making items of substance and catering to a small but humble crowd of aficionados. I get really frustrated when things get over hyped, I like to see this overall balance and it also makes the objects much more special in my opinion, I guess it feels like you’ve found a unique piece that no one else knows about. Definitely a nice feeling.

The photography itself gives us a great impression of Carl’s character as he poses for these artistic shots infront of his objects. My favourite is the one above that features different sculptures that he’s designed, the piece titled ‘man with a stick’ is a particular stand out and can be seen second from the right. He’s the tallest of the pack and would look great on a desk of some sort. But overall there’s a great array of photos that shows him drawing, grinding metal, teaching his pupils, and also some shots of the items that they make. This is fantastic for me as I love to see if there were any variations in the objects that they were making back then to now, it doesn’t look like much has changed apart from a few new additions (which is nice!). I hope you enjoy the photography below, if you’d like to find out more head towards the Auböck Workshop website via the link below, you can now buy some of these items in our shop.

www.werkstaette-carlauboeck.at

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