bowl

The Viennese architect and designer Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956) deplored the poor quality of mass-produced objects. His preference for well-crafted everyday wares echoed the aims of the earlier Arts and Crafts movement in England. Hoffmann, who belonged to the avant-garde group of Austrian artists known as the Vienna Sezession, founded the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop) in 1903. It produced all kinds of decorative arts, from jewelry to complete room decorations. Vienna’s Die Fledermaus (The Bat), designed by Hoffmann and others in 1907, is one of the Wiener Werkstätte’s most recognized interiors. Inspired by artistic cabarets in Paris and Munich, it promoted the Werkstätte’s design philosophy. In glass, Hoffmann’s work is characterized by simple, full forms and spare, usually geometric decoration. This set of glasses was probably made at Meyr’s Neffe, one of the Bohemian glassworks that fabricated the Wiener Werkstätte’s designs.