Austrian Fledermaus Settee by Josef Hoffmann, 1910s

This settee is a fusion of two styles: Josef Hoffmann’s Secession and Thonet’s furniture aesthetics. It is made entirely of bent orange beechwood, varnished and polished.
Josef Hoffmann was an Austrian architect and designer, who contributed to establishing Vienna Secession and Wiener Werkstätte. His works clearly show a taste for straight lines and geometric shapes. Hoffmann often used ornamental circular forms as elements of construction.
This settee was made after Hoffmann’s special project for the famous Kabarett Fledermaus, active in Vienna between 1907 and 1913. The group of artists who designed interiors for the Fledermaus included prominent figures of Vienna Secession: Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Anton Kling, or Eduard Wimmer. Especially for Fledermaus, Hoffmann designed a furniture set named Kohn, which is still produced today. Hoffmann’s furniture became an icon of design of the 20th century.
An innovative technique used for making this settee is an artistic way of bending wooden bars. Invented in the first half of the 19th century by Austrian carpenter, Michael Thonet, founder of the Thonet company, it soon was used for mass furniture production. Typical features of Thonet’s furniture were light openwork structure and clear form. Despite its seemingly light shape, this settee is very durable, solid and stable, thanks to carefully designed construction.
The settee underwent professional renovation of upholstery.