Dagobert Peche: Austrian Multi-disciplined Designer

Multi-disciplined Designer

Dagobert Peche (1887 – 1923) was an Austrian architect, painter, metalworker, glass and ceramics artist and jewellery designer.

Education for Dagobert Peche

He studied engineering and architecture at the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna from 1906 to 1910.

Biography for Dagobert Peche

In 1912, he began designing for the industry, focusing on ceramics and carpets. He joined the Wiener Werkstatte in 1915, eventually becoming co-director between 1917 and 1923; this affected the highly architectural style shown in his lamp designs around 1920, which were more classically adorned than his later, more abstract work. 

He designed and oversaw Wiener Werkstatte’s Zurich shop from 1917 until 1919. Peche and Hoffmann were the Werkstatte’s most prominent designers at the time. Peche combined Baroque and Rococo-era ornamental motifs to produce an extraordinarily distinctive and original vocabulary. Peche’s metalwork was densely ornamented and lavishly decorated. 

He devised wholly new, amusing forms, frequently in simple materials like tole and cardboard; the conditions caused by World War I dictated the use of low-cost raw materials. After the war, he produced utilitarian silver objects and purely decorative silver ornaments, an example of which was the 1920 50th birthday gift presented to Josef Hoffmann by the Wiener Werkstatte; the articulated fruits in the piece represented sculpture, painting, and architecture.

Dagobert Peche – Selection of Works

Peche’s career was cut short by his untimely death at 35. However, his innovative and distinctive designs remain highly regarded and influential in decorative arts and design. His work can be found in museums and private collections worldwide, and he is recognized as one of the key figures in the Viennese design movement of the early 20th century.

Sources and Reading List

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

Dagobert Peche and the Wiener Werkstätte. (2002). United Kingdom: Yale University Press. https://amzn.to/3QYXV7E

Jackson, L. (2002). Twentieth-century pattern design : textile & wallpaper pioneers. United Kingdom: Princeton Architectural Press. https://amzn.to/3wDfmEd

Huey, M. (2021). Inside Stories: Writing about Home. Austria: Album Verlag. https://amzn.to/4axYM6k

The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts: Two-volume Set. (2006). United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, USA. https://amzn.to/3VeXxDJ

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