unika vaev archive

As early as the 1970’s, Unika Vaev carried products designed by notable architects, thus becoming the first American contract fabric company to venture into re-creating historically important textile designs. In 1985, this collection was officially recognized and the group of products is now called the Unika Vaev Archive. The designs come from the original drawings of the architects and designers who authored them. There is a corporate devotion to the Archive that has carried on for three decades with various introductions of new products through the years.

The Unika Vaev Archive contains classic designs by Josef Hoffmann and his colleagues of the Wiener Werkstätte, as well as some notable mid-20th Century designs by Ruth Adler Schnee.

	The Wiener Werkstätte The Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops) was founded in 1903 by Professors Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser with the entrepreneur and manufacturer Fritz Waerndorfer.
	Max Benirschke, 1880 – 1970 Well known for his interior design work, Benirschke was a talented illustrator and regular contributor to VER SACRUM, the short-lived but highly significant Austrian periodical. In school he studied Architecture and Textile Technique and later taught at the art trade school in Düsseldorf and the Academy in Vienna.
	Fritz Dietl, 1880 - ? Dietl studied architectural design from 1898-1905 at the Art trade school in Vienna. Along with being an accomplished architect and a contributor to the interior design of the Café Fledermaus, he designed tableware and pots for Gmunder Ceramics, a notable Austrian manufacturer of ceramic ware.
	Josef Hoffmann, 1870 – 1956 At the age of 27, Hoffmann was a founding member of the Vienna Secession, a group of artists, architects and designers dedicated to overturning the establishment and creating "Total Works of Art". Hoffmann founded the Wiener Werkstatte in 1903 as a means for producing and marketing the fabrics and furnishings he and his compatriots designed.
	Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel, 1881 - 1965 L. H. Jungnickel was a gifted graphic artist and illustrator. He was brought into the Wiener Werkstätte by Josef Hoffmann and became one of the most important designers working mostly on textiles, wallpapers and postcards.
	Koloman Moser, 1868 – 1918 Of the artists who founded the Vienna Secession, Moser was also one of the boldest, raising the ire of the Viennese Art establishment. Moser, a painter, left the Wiener Werkstatte in 1908 to devote the rest of his life to his art.
	Ruth Adler Schnee, 1924 – present It was the friendship between Adler Schnee and the Bauhaus artist Paul Klee in 1930’s Germany that stimulated her artistic exploration. By the time she had completed studies at the Rhode Island School of Design and Cranbrook Academy, her philosophy of organic, expressionistic design had been formulated.