With its leafy boulevards, Baroque architecture and stately opera house besieged by flocks of Mozart impersonators stationed outside, Vienna has a reputation for being a card-carrying member of the old-world’s club. But time and time again, the Austrian capital has proven itself as reliably ahead of the international art-and-design curve.
Glamorous masterworks from the early-1900s archives of the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna workshops) hardly netted a profit at the time, but today a 1912 jeweled tobacco case by Josef Hoffmann for silk lounge chair developed by Adolf Loos in 1930 can fetch record numbers at contemporary auction houses. And brass bottle openers shaped to look like human hand and animal-horn bookends originally designed by Carl Auböck, a titan of Austrian modernism, are now knocked off by sellers on Etsy at a clip that rivals faux Hermes handbags. Even J.and L. Lobmeyr, a yesteryear glassmaker from Vienna that once bequeathed a crystal chandelier to the Schönbrunn Palace, is once again back in the spotlight. Lobmeyr chandeliers dangle from the ceilings of rooms in the new Rosewood Vienna, housed in the 19th-century headquarters of Erste Group Bank, which just opened earlier this month.
Rest on today’s vibrant and in-vogue Viennese scene and risk missing out on museums showcasing unsung and underground art-world talent (exhibitions at the Albertina Modern, for example, have featured works by the experimental filmmaker Günter Brus and the performance-art provocateur Valie Export), hole-in-wall bakeries selling only-in-Austria goodies like pear-and-cardamom pralines, and experimental chefs serve experimental dishes à la blood-sausage pizza or wild-boar goulash. Once dubbed the “City of Dreams” by Freud, present-day Vienna is very much in the throes of its latest spring awakening.
Loos American Bar
Before his death in 1933, Austrian architect Alfred Loos was a pioneering aesthete of modern Viennese architecture, including being the brainchild behind the concept of "Raumplan," which translates literally to the “spatial plan” of interior spaces. Often, that meant Loos employed a less-is-more-approach to his architectural landmarks. No bigger than 290 square feet, Loos American Bar, an art-deco watering hole built on Kärntner Strasse, the most famous shopping street in Central Vienna, can barely serve more than a handful of guests at a time. But the bar remains one of Vienna’s most sought-after places to squeeze into. Come for the cocktails — as the bar’s name suggests, it’s best to stick with American classics, like a stiff martini or a Manhattan — but stay to dazzle at the bar’s kaleidoscopic interior, a mix of glass mirror, lacquered mahogany, onyx, marble and green-and-white checkered floors. Kärntner Durchgang 10, 1010; +43 (1) 5123283
Secession Building
Instantly recognizable by its dome covered in gold leaves, the Secession building in Vienna was completed in 1898 by Joseph Maria Olbrich as an architectural emblem of Vienna Secession, a network of artist rebels who strayed, both intellectually and stylistically, from the institutional art-world pack. Sure, the Art Nouveau exhibition hall is home to some of the most recognizable artworks of that era (Gustav Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze, for example, is located in the building’s subterranean floor), but it’s subversive guerilla spirit is also kept alive by the new garde. Through September 24, the Secession hosts an interactive Web3 exhibition by the digital trailblazers EBB and Neïl Beloufa, where visitors can enter video-game-esque terminals and compete to win NFTs and screen prints by the artists. Don’t worry, adults are allowed to play, too. Friedrichstraße 12, 1010; +43 1 5875307
Sheyn
Sheyn founders Nicolas Gold and Markus Schaffer create striking home decor and jewelry through innovative, high-tech fabrication techniques worthy of a NASA space station. Pop in to pick up sculptural Feivel earrings fashioned out of 3D-printed wax that’s been cast in silver or, if you have the muscle strength, a Boyk Vase, which is made from 50 pounds of twisted concrete. The effect is, like so many of the shop’s treasures, it looks unique from every angle. Lerchenfelder Str. 7, 1070; +43 664 2337557
Meinklang Hofladen
Despite having a farm and vineyard located in Hungary, the Michlits family has been instrumental in putting Austria’s natural winemaking movement on the map. The farm-to-table fam recently opened Meinklang Hofladen, a minimalist bakery and wine bar Margareten, a multicultural art-and-design neighborhood, which stocks everything for your sweet and savory needs, from fresh whole-wheat breads and potted cabbage salads to pickled veggies and oatmeal with blueberries topped with a drizzle of cauliflower honey. Franzensgasse 2, 1050; +43 664 3849470
Die Sellerie
Before Patrick Bauer and Georg Leditzky launched the concept boutique Die Sellerie, the pair worked as creative directors for wineries, artists and even pharmacies across Austria. The duo’s expansive resumes help explain why Die Seller sells objects that appeal to the eye as much as the mind, like ceramic creations depicting the female torso made by Andrea Kollar, exclusively available at the shop, and limited-edition prints by the street artist Frau Isa, sales of which will be donated to Queer Base Vienna, an organization that supports LGTBQIA refugees in the city. Burggasse 21, 1070; +43 699 12109304
