Wiener Werkstatte is an association of architects, artists, artisans and merchants, founded in 1903 in Vienna. The main point of the program they put forward was the identification of the concepts of art and craft, and the main goals were the development and coordination of interaction between artists, industrialists and merchants. The association opened a number of its own craft workshops and a network of stores, and soon products with the WW brand name began to enjoy great success. The workshops produced furniture, fabrics, ceramics, lamps, metal and glass items. All works were original and made in a single copy.
Wiener Werkstätte jewelry combined elements of German Jugendstil and Art Nouveau: geometric rigor, contrasting colors and a love of silver. Designers used floral motifs in the form of nuts and hearts, as well as decorative stones – corals.
The value of the Wiener Werkstätte jewellery was not in the raw materials, but in the aesthetics and craftsmanship created by the workshop’s artists and designers. Therefore, the pieces contained almost no diamonds, emeralds, rubies or other expensive gemstones.
Wiener Werkstätte closed in 1932.
