Josef Franz Maria Hoffmann

Josef Hoffman (1870-1956) was an Austrian architect and designer of household furnishings. He studied at the Higher State Crafts School in Brunn beginning in 1887 followed by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, and received a Prix de Rome in 1895. With Joseph Maria Olbrich he founded the Vienna Secession in 1897, along with Gustav Klimt and Koloman Moser. In 1905 he left the Secession due to quarrels over artistic vision. With the banker Fritz Waerndorfer and Moser he established the Wiener Werkstätte, designing many of its products.