07.07.2015
MAK- Museum for Applied Arts
At MAK everything revolves around design: valuable decorative arts objects designed by the artists of Wiener Werkstätte, Thonet bentwood furniture, a reproduction of Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky’s „Frankfurt Kitchen“ and various Art Noveau highlights.
New is the MAK permanent collection Asia, which presents Chinese porcelain, Japanese lacquer work, Japanese wood cuts and Japanese coloring stencil plates. The MAK permanent collection Carpets was reorganized in spring 2014, and the new MAK Design Laboratory makes references between art and everyday life on almost 2,000 m² in the former “Collection of Studies” (Studiensammlung). Contemporary art by Donald Judd, James Turrell and others and 12 sofas by Franz West span the artistic range to the present day.
If you want to add a splash of design to your home, the MAK Design Shop is well worth a visit.
30.07.2015
Vienna Ugly: Tour of the worst buildings
Beauty can be boring – but ugly never is. According to this motto, a very unusual guided walking tour was established in Vienna very recently: „Vienna Ugly“ guides you not to the most beautiful (and so well known) houses, but to the ugliest buildings in the city. Including old and new architecture, as well as buildings planned by famous architects. To show another Vienna, beyond the tired cliches of Sissi and Schnitzel, a city which is more creative, contemporary and adventurous.
All tours are in English. Dates can be found on the website. The meeting point for the tour is outside Cafe „Einfahrt“, Haidgasse 3, 1020 Vienna. (Public Transport: U2, Taborstrasse)
30.07.2015
On the trail of Wiener Werkstätte designs
Premium fabrics, luxury lights, elegant dinner silverware: many of the products designed by Wiener Werkstätte artists – chief among them Josef Hoffmann and Otto Wagner – are still being produced to this day.
Woka Lamps Vienna produces exclusive lighting based on contemporary Wiener Werkstätte and Jugendstil designs. Josef Hoffmann's crystal chandelier for the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, Otto Wagner's outdoor lighting for Vienna's Stadtbahn commuter railway and Adolf Loos' designs for gentlemen's outfitters Knize are among the highlights. The lights are made exclusively by hand and, in some cases, using original tools.
Now in its sixth generation, legendary Viennese glass and lighting producer Lobmeyr is a byword for time-honored, quality manufacturing. The company (est. 1823) also has a long-standing tradition of working with leading designers to produce various timeless classics, from drinking glasses to chandeliers, many of which are manufactured according to original sketches from the 18th and 19th century.
Porzellanmanufaktur Augarten is your place, if porcelain it is; not the usual everyday plates …
And to Vienna’s No.1 tailor, Knize, whose first floor is unchanged since 1858 (and by the way: Knize used to be owned by the family of one of our partners, Peter Polak.)
This is the tip for those of you who love high quality craftsmanship. Vienna’s best !
30.07.2015
Urban art at the Danube Canal
The Donaukanal ("Danube Canal") is a former arm of the river Danube, now regulated as a water channel, within the city of Vienna.
Regularly used by joggers, cyclists and skaters there have been successful attempts at turning the place into a more attractive recreational area (summer stages, flea markets, cafés, etc.), the embankment walls of the Danube Canal form a single, giant canvas. Graffiti artists are allowed to spray their artworks there as they choose and perfectly legally, too. There is much worth looking at amongst it all.
If you are more into music than into graffitis, the Donaukanaltreiben Festival might be something for you. It is held every year in June in several locations along the Donaukanal. Mainly Austrian professional and amateur bands are invited but from year to year the organisers also invite bands from the neighbouring countries.
30.07.2015
Drink G’Spritzter
In the past people drank wine instead of water because of the bad quality of Viennese water. Even though tap water is now top quality as it comes straight from the mountains, we still drink “G’spritzter” (wine with soda) to quench our thirst in summertime. The word comes from the German spritzen "spatter, squirt, spray, sprinkle", i.e. adding water and thus diluting the wine so that it can be consumed in larger, thirst-quenching amounts. But note: ... g'spritzt can also be combined with every juice, e.g. applejuice mixed with soda is called Apfelsaft g'spritzt.
As G´spritzer/g´spritzt is one of many official terms that differ in Austrian German from their usage in most parts of Germany, you can act like a real local if you drink Weisser G´spritzter (white wine with soda) to your Schnitzel and have Palatschinken (pancakes) for dessert! Enjoy!