Carl Auböck: Elegant Whimsy in Modern Design

Within a Viennese workshop, nestled in a neighborhood that has known its name for more than a century, lives a five-generation spirit of design.

From this studio came artist and modernist designer, Carl Auböck, whose father founded the metalworking workshop. Carl Auböck found worldwide fame for his masterful works in metal and mid-century modern design.

A leader in Austrian Modernism, Auböck spent his young life studying art and color theory, and he became a dedicated student of Bauhaus. Though once renowned as a prominent Austrian painter, he returned to the metalworking craft of his father. He became a master of his material—brass—and he gave warmth, depth, and energy to the cold metal through exquisite polishes and patina coupled with smart design.

His obscure knickknacks found favor in mid-century design as he created paperweights, letter openers, corkscrews, ash trays, key chains, and other curios—all well-designed and often taking the form of other obscure objects. He brought whimsy to his design through form and scale as well as through mixed materials to provide texture. Though indeed works of art, his pieces are designed to be used, and the unique, sculptural forms to be conversation starters.

His designs combine elements of the old world craftsmanship of his father with his own, unique, modern design. In the modernist design world with proclivity toward coldness, Auböck’s deigns bring humor, wit, and warmth to the spaces they inhabit.