Designer

Josef Hoffmann

(1870 - 1956) Josef Hoffmann was born in Pirnitz, Moravia (now Czechoslovakia) in 1870. He studied under Otto Wagner at the Institute of Fine Arts in Vienna and later went on to become one of the founding members of the School of Secession in 1897. The strict grid pattern that formed the basis for his designs, as well as being a favored decorative motif, earned him the nickname "Quadrull H Hoffmann" or "Little Square Hoffmann." His work for the Weiner Werkstatte was a pivotal element in the development of a European tradition of decorative modern design, to which the Parisian Art Deco of the 1920?s provided a continuation of this standard.