Bookends with elephants Karl Hagenauer Werkstätte ca. 1928

In the late 1920s, the Werkstätte Hagenauer steadily expanded its range, increasingly incorporating everyday items and functional objects into its production. The 1928 sales catalogue already dedicated an entire page to bookends, featuring more than twenty different designs, many of them adorned with animal figures.
In our model featuring elephants, their bodies are stylized into an almost circular silhouette. The reduced, modernist form abstracts the animal to ist most essential contour, a clear, flowing line that is both charming and functional. This fusion of sculptural design and practical utility exemplifies the creative versatility and innovative spirit that define the work of the Werkstätte Hagenauer.