Carl Auböck “Tree Trunk” table, Austria ca 1955 Made by Werkstätte Carl Auböck, Vienna.

A walnut tree trunk coffee table by Austrian designer Carl Auböck II (often simply referred to as Carl Auböck), from circa 1955.  This beautiful tree trunk table was designed and made by the Auböck Werkstätte in Austria. The modernist table is made of walnut, while the legs are tubular brass, ending in rubber feet. The polished brass legs help to achieve an interesting, yet harmonious contrast with the walnut stump. From all angles, the table offers beautiful texture and patterns. Auböck’s notable tree stump tables maintain their natural form, therefore each of these tables is unique, one of a kind.  

Interestingly, the idea to use tree stumps came from pure coincidence when Auböck stumbled upon some tree fragments while running an errand at the turnery. Thanks to his appreciation of what most regarded as useless or worthless, the tree fragments ended up in his workshop, resulting in the tree table. The colour and movement in the grain of the 'haunch' of walnut is mesmerising. Each of the three brass legs have an even and consistent patina and are capped with white rubber feet. This piece can be seen as a translation of Auböck's ideas about art into a three-dimensional object, which resultantly straddles the boundary between art and design.  

Werkstätte Carl Auböck is a fourth-generation Viennese workshop known for its witty approach to modern industrial design. The workshop was founded in 1900 and reformed in 1926, when Carl Auböck (1900–1957) returned from his studies at the Weimar Bauhaus and took over the metalsmith business of his father, Karl Heinrich Auböck (1872–1925). Carl Auböck II was among the few Viennese students to attend the post-World War I Bauhaus in Weimar. Upon his return to the Workshop, he brought with him the inspiration of the new design movement. The Bauhaus-inspired Auböck Workshop is defined by expert craftsmanship and materials of superior quality. Auböck, influenced by both his education and his father’s work, united functional modernism with Austrian craft, creating the visual style of the Werkstätte Carl Auböck. ~H.

SOLD

Condition:

In good vintage condition. Wear consistent with age and use. Item has some small marks and scratches, missing varnish on the top. The bottom has traces of the original black paint.

Dimensions: 

23.22 in W x 12.99 in D x 14.37 H in

59 cm W x 33 cm D x 36.5 cm H

Literature: 

Clemes Kois, Carl Aubock: The Workshop, 1930-1970 (2012), pp. 148 (for similar object)