Design Innovation and Artistry: The Legacy of Atelier Bauhaus
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First Steps: Friedl Dicker and Franz Singer
Friedl Dicker and Franz Singer grew up during a period of significant change and turmoil. They experienced their childhood in the waning years of the Habsburg Monarchy, and then lived through the upheaval of the First World War and the collapse of established societal norms and values. Despite the immense uncertainty of that era, a newfound sense of confidence began to emerge. It felt like a complete departure from the past was inevitable, with many people advocating for a fresh start in various aspects of life, including society, politics, art, and architecture. Innovation was already taking root in the latter two fields. This was the backdrop against which the founding of the Bauhaus as a twentieth-century art school should be understood. Dicker and Singer were involved in this movement right from the outset — first as students of Johannes Itten in Vienna during the war, and later as part of the inaugural group of “Bauhausians.” The artistic freedom and optimism of those years continued to influence the work of both artists throughout their lives.
Studio Bauhaus
Furniture that can be stacked and folded, walls that can collapse, and rooms with versatile uses — these elements redefine domestic design. Influenced by their time at the Bauhaus, Friedl Dicker and Franz Singer crafted distinctive apartments, shops, and buildings in interwar Vienna that exuded a clear modernist aesthetic. These creations served the needs of twentieth-century individuals: practical, precise, and unpretentious, yet occasionally infused with playfulness, vibrant colors, and an abundance of optimism. Leading the Atelier’s team of young designers, Bauhaus graduates Franz Singer and Friedl Dicker catered to the preferences of a predominantly Jewish clientele in search of alternatives to traditional Viennese home decor.
However, their success was short-lived. Friedl Dicker departed from the Atelier in 1931, becoming active in the Communist Party of Austria, while Franz Singer emigrated to London in 1934. Tragically, Friedl Dicker was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944. The Vienna Atelier closed its doors in 1938, and many of its clients were forced to flee, resulting in the destruction of the furnishings in their apartments. Remarkably, some drawings, photographs, and a handful of furniture pieces have survived, serving as invaluable relics of a lost avant-garde era.
Phantasus Construction Kit, 1919–1925
The Phantasus construction kit, a collaborative effort between Franz Singer and Franz Scala, stands out as one of the earliest design concepts to emerge from the Weimar Bauhaus. Despite having a patent registered for it, this innovative creation never reached the production stage. The inspiration behind this endeavor can be attributed to Johannes Itten, who, in November 1919, rallied the entire Bauhaus community to venture into the realm of toy manufacturing, driven by the motto “party-work-pay.”
In stark contrast to products like Matador, which emphasized engineering and the technical facets of construction, Singer and Scala aimed to nurture artistic creativity. By encouraging children to assemble two-dimensional components into three-dimensional objects, their intention was to direct youngsters’ focus toward “the essence of expressive forms.” This approach sought to instill in them an early appreciation for abstraction within the realm of modern art.
The Phantasus construction kit, a project that Friedl Dicker may have also contributed to, serves as a key to comprehending the work of Franz Singer and his team. It embodies both the artistic and playful dimensions of their creations, while also showcasing their inclination toward standardization in the realms of furniture and architecture.
Design Between Luxury and Social Interaction
In 1925, Friedl Dicker and Franz Singer embarked on a collaborative venture that marked a significant departure from the offerings of the Werkstätten Bildender Kunst in Berlin. They shifted their focus towards the specialized design of furniture, buildings, and interior spaces for a diverse range of settings, including houses, apartments, shops, kindergartens, and doctors’ practices. The Atelier, with its formal language characterized by clarity and functionality, made a distinctive mark on the design landscape of Vienna.
Their clientele predominantly consisted of friends, acquaintances, and Singer’s family, showcasing their ability to connect with a close-knit community. In the few years leading up to the Atelier’s closure in 1938, they accumulated a broad and impressive portfolio. Their creations spanned from elegant apartment furnishings, the exclusive Heller Tennis Club, and the stylish Heriot guesthouse, to the innovative Montessori kindergarten located within the Goethehof building and residences for settlers bound for Palestine. Their work ranged from extravagant tubular steel chairs to straightforward furniture designed for “Red Vienna.”
The Atelier not only represents a crucial piece of Vienna’s design history but also serves as a reflective mirror capturing the social and political dynamics of the period around 1930.
A Day in the Atelier
Surviving documents provide valuable insights into the daily routines of the team at Atelier Franz Singer. Singer served as the embodiment of the Atelier’s overarching creative vision and played a pivotal role in crafting carpentry designs, marked by their ingenious rotating and folding mechanisms. On the other hand, Dicker contributed her talents to the realm of color and materials, with a specific emphasis on textiles. Her work encompassed upholstery fabrics, woven strap chairs, curtains, day blankets, and wall hangings, injecting a unique aesthetic into their creations.
Key team members who possessed vital architectural expertise, having studied at the Vienna Technical University, played indispensable roles within the Atelier. Among them were Hans Biel and Bruno Pollak, both of whom pursued independent careers as furniture designers. Leopoldine Schrom, celebrated as an “allrounder,” played a multifaceted role and was deeply engaged in all aspects of Atelier operations. Additionally, Anna Szabó contributed significantly by crafting many of the intricate presentation drawings.
The Atelier’s work process extended beyond mere documentation; it included model building, allowing for the testing and demonstration of their innovative designs. Furthermore, their work gained international recognition through exhibitions and publications in prominent journals, enabling the Atelier to reach a global audience and leave an indelible mark on the design world.
Efficient Space-Saving Furniture — Folding, Nesting, and Stacking in Wood and Tubular Stee
The Atelier produced a diverse array of furniture and lighting fixtures, but today, only a handful of these items can be traced. Furniture types like the “divan bed,” designed around 1927 and eventually patented, continued to be part of the Atelier’s portfolio well into the 1930s.
A distinctive hallmark of the furniture designs was their adaptability and versatility, achieved through innovative folding, nesting, and stacking mechanisms. Initially, the furniture was crafted from wood and adorned with textile coverings meticulously designed and woven by the Atelier. However, these combinations did not consistently prove practical. Starting from 1930, in parallel with the developments at the Bauhaus, the Atelier progressively shifted its focus toward novel materials, namely tubular steel and plywood.
Despite the initial intention to facilitate mass production, the only noteworthy success in this regard was the introduction of stackable tubular steel chairs, an innovation credited to Bruno Pollak during his tenure as a member of the Atelier team.
Apartment of Margit and Hugo Buschmann, 1930
Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Laubenheimer Strasse 1
Margit Téry, a Bauhaus alumna alongside Dicker and Singer, had her second marriage to Hugo Buschmann, who oversaw the advertising department at Eternit AG, where Margit also held a position. Together with her son Florian from her first marriage to the art historian Bruno Adler, the Buschmanns relocated to an apartment within Berlin’s Künstlerkolonie housing estate. The development of this “artists’ colony” had commenced in 1927, and it was home to several notable figures from the cultural milieu of the Weimar Republic.
Their apartment was ingeniously designed, with distinct spaces including a boudoir, a gentleman’s study, a children’s room, and accommodations for a maid, all surrounding a central living area that doubled as a dining room. Notably, this space featured versatile, multifunctional furniture and could be partitioned into two separate areas through the use of a folding partition wall. In the gentleman’s study, the bed could be concealed within a “cupboard space” during the day, while in the boudoir, the writing desk could be neatly folded away, mirroring a similar arrangement with the bed in the children’s room.
Apartment of Alice and Hugo Moller
Vienna 1, Reichsratsstrasse 9
Possibly as a means to support the launch of the Atelier, Hugo Moller, the proprietor of the textile firm S. Katzau, and his wife Alice, engaged the Atelier to renovate two rooms within a spacious apartment near Vienna’s City Hall. Even during this period, the design of the dining room exhibited a strong resemblance to the pre-World War One home decor heavily influenced by Josef Hoffmann and the Wiener Werkstätte. Such a connection is hardly surprising, considering that Bauhaus design, founded on fundamental geometric forms, also drew inspiration from the decorative arts of Viennese modernism. The focal point of the furnishings was an expandable dining table, where the rolltop principle, typically employed in vertical filing cabinets, was ingeniously adapted into a horizontal feature.
