“A Longing for Beauty: The Wiener Werkstätte and the Stoclet House” explores the Wiener Werkstätte as one of the central reform projects of Viennese Modernism.

The book presents the Werkstätte not only through its objects but also as a cultural and economic model in which architecture, furniture, ceramics, glass, books, posters, textiles, jewelry, and fashion were conceived as part of a comprehensive aesthetic program.

A key focus is the Stoclet House in Brussels, which Josef Hoffmann designed between 1905 and 1911. As one of the Wiener Werkstätte’s most significant Gesamtkunstwerk projects, the house combined architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, applied arts, and artistic commissions, including Gustav Klimt’s famous Stoclet Frieze. The publication situates this extraordinary building within the broader history of the Wiener Werkstätte and its endeavor to shape modern life through design.

With in-depth essays, a detailed chronology, and extensive visual material, the catalog documents the historical development, production culture, and lasting influence of the Wiener Werkstätte. It demonstrates how the pursuit of beauty was intertwined with questions of craftsmanship, luxury, modernity, market strategy, and cultural identity.