Linen Cupboard, c. 1905

Josef Hoffmann’s (1870–1956) furniture designs from around 1905 are almost unsurpassable when it comes to radical ideas. The Modernist aspiration to conceive form and function as a unity is here emphasized by the fact that smooth surfaces varnished in white are inevitably associated with easy care and hygiene. Door and drawer pulls with integrated locks are reduced to simple brass squares and rectangles. The door above the drawers opens to the front and can thus be used as a work surface. No details are known about the creation of this piece of furniture. At any rate, comparable elements can be found in the interior studies of Hoffmann’s class at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts – for instance in the studies by Carl Witzmann (1883–1952) which were presented at the 1904 World Fair in St. Louis.

IR, 2021