the Wiener Werkstätte: in its Wake

S.I.G. (?); M. Schmidt, Elektrotechn. u. Metallwarenfabrik (Wien VII/62)

Leather Product Box

circa 1938 (?)

     This treasure is a personal find I made during a past trip to Vienna, unearthed from one of the stands in the overflowing and wonderfully thriving Naschmarkt. Despite my fruitless attempts in trying to discover more about its specific origin and history, it is nonetheless apparent that its creation took direct influence from the workings of the Wiener Werkstätte, even if the box was (though I am not certain) made some years after the movement’s official demise. The box’s outer corners and edges are slightly worn while its beige suède-like interior, embossed with the silver words (translated), Special manufactures/electric flashlights/Batteries and bulbs/Viennese lighters and S.I.G. (inset), is in near-perfect condition, save a bit of dust and surface imprint. 
    Its most beautiful aspect, however, is the decoration of its lid: similarly embossed with silver as its interior, it forms an entirely symmetrical design of stylised geometric clusters, with minute foliated dots, squares and trails of diamond-and-cog patterns delicately unfurling across the faded greenish-black leather face. Indeed, the aesthetics of this box share a strong affinity with those of a ring box designed by Josef Hoffmann himself (black leather with fine gold embossing, circa 1910), on which a similar string of diamond shapes runs the course of the lid’s edges, enclosing neatly the classic monogram of the Wiener Werkstätte (WW) at its centre. It is almost surprising, therefore, that for my own box such a quality design was made to store not, in fact, a jewellery piece, but rather a handy torch and a few spare lighters.

Merù Gioielli

Merù Gioielli (Italy)

‘Choo-choo’ Pendant

circa 2000s

     Traditional hand-painted pieces wrought by the artisans of Merù are considered by many of the studio’s devoted clients to be pearls of sweet nostalgia. Founded at the start of the 1960s, each Merù piece that is bought today (or indeed still trickling through the newer generations of its original owners) represents the ever-present and distinctive feel of the second-half of the twentieth century - the age in which the general demand for haute couture jewellery became slightly ousted by the welcomed emergence of high-quality and ‘crafty’ jewellery studios. Employing the exact same media (such as pure gold, enamel and precious stone) as used by Bulgari and Cartier, for example, the smaller and more independent houses like Merù developed a reputation based on their skilled intertwining of richly goods with a playfully unsophisticated yet ‘elegant’ touch of adolescence - no matter by or for whom the creation was eventually to be bought. The result is mirrored strongly in this contemporary pendant to the left, wherein the idiosyncratic streak of Merù is seen not only in the whimsical choice of imagery (is it possible to not hear the train’s soothing ‘choo-chooing’ in our minds?) but also in the sleek shaping of its gold mounting, whereby the ghostly influences of Greek coinage and even late seventeenth century English miniature portraiture can be traced. Merù creations are precious, if not occasionally somewhat costly, but they remain in this new era of digital designing and wax printing pearls of not only sweet nostalgia, but of enduring humility too.

Gustave Caillebotte

Gustave Caillebotte

the Yerres, Rain

circa 1875

     That particularly poignant tap of water hitting water resounds strongly from this piece. Drawn from the river’s reflection, the tree trunks seem to form the shapes of hidden musical notes, each shivering in tune with the individual water droplets as they gently riddle the water bed. Sectioned into three slightly diagonal registers (rather like those of a musical sheet), the composition of this picture, partially inspired from the likes of japonisme, invites the eye just as much as the ear into experiencing a mélange of visual and audible textures, bearing one’s senses in the direction of Impressionistic ideals and of how truly to commune with nature. Each of the four natural elements can be seen and thus felt, with Air determining the force and drift of the rain; with Fire concentrated in the dappled, pungent rays of sun and indeed in the suggestion of photosynthesis procuring the lush, healthy greenery; with Water consuming the ‘belly’ of the scene; and with Earth forming a dual base - that of the literal ground, here bordered with a stretch of hewn timber, and that from which the remaining two registers rhythmically rise on a two-dimension plane, beautifully but ironically counterbalancing the fall of rain with a unified ascension of musical strokes.

Dutch Clockwork: Gouda (South Holland)

Gouda Royal Faience Studio (Plateelbakkerij)

Art Nouveau Clock

circa 1920

     One should be able to tell instantly that this clock is of a high-quality make. Beautifully hand-painted, as all Gouda earthenware creations usually are, the shell of this clock seemingly quivers with the lethargic stirrings of its bees and bobbing flower buds. A weightlessness of light colours imbues its body with a pulse that is slightly ethereal, as if lit from within by a source that has not yet faded since the clock’s crafting nearly one hundred years ago. In addition to these classic turn-of-the-century touches, the stature of the clock is also structured in a style that embodies Art Nouveau ideals: its footing is sturdy but unimposing, with the slight bend to each leg gently drawing together the face with its lower torso, forming a soft-edged silhouette of a suggested triangle (the number three being one element of nature’s flawlessness of pyramidal life structure). The contours of the clock’s stature adhere to similar guidelines, whereby they are confident in their purpose to contain its curves and swimming colours, and remaining all the while humbly reserved in their allotted linear negative space. Though in all, what genuinely conveys the calm beauty of this piece is not, perhaps, the combined effects of its many details, but that of its initial function - the continual, reverberating echoes of each second’s tick, loyal to time since 1920. 

Carmel Georgescu

Carmel Georgescu

Untitled

circa 2010 (?)

     There is an articulate attention to depth in this scene, with the play of light and shadow tip-toeing from our fingertips in the foreground to the far, far expansive background. The heavily-laden branches of the trees almost sag to the ground, but whether they are young and sprightly or of sagely age, the intense colours of the day tile their forms in an incomparable energy that only leaves can naturally translate to the eye. Through the air moist drafts pace, lifting the skirts of the trees and tickling the dewy clumps of grass clinging to the bases of their cool trunks. Here, life in its many shapes is at a standstill; the occasional gulp of water or rustle of wings soothingly pierces the silence, and altogether there breathes in unison the beautifully imperfect indifference of nature to the bigger, or indeed lesser, things in life.