Secretary Desk for the Waerndorfer family

The secretary desk designed by Koloman Moser for the mother of Fritz Waerndorfer (1868–1939)—who, alongside Josef Hoffmann and Moser himself was one of the cofounders of the Wiener Werkstätte in 1903—is one of the first pieces of furniture that the Wiener Werkstätte set about realizing. This object, reminiscent of Biedermeier secretary desks, consists of a smooth-sided cube on short legs tapering towards the floor and is equipped with a drop-down writing surface. The surfaces of this desk are done according to the idea of planar ornamentation: every single surface is decoratively framed and hence defined as such. Two further examples of this freestanding desk type with a pull-out seat are known: today, one of them is at Palais Stoclet in Brussels, while the other is held by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.