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From 1901, Hoffmann renounced the curves of Art Nouveau and advocated the adoption of rigorous simplicity for furniture, favouring straight shapes. Influences from Arts & Crafts movement and Japanese aesthetic as well as from the Scottish Mackintosh were decisive for the emergence of this style where form and ornament follow the same orthogonal grid. Functionalism and abstraction find their most radical expression in the models developed by Hoffmann and Koloman Moser around 1902-05.
Their first clients belonged to a small circle of artists, friends and rare amateurs, among them the Wittgenstein family. In 1904, Hoffmann produced this small swivel cabinet, of a design analogous to light English bookcases, for the Berlin apartment of Margaret Stonborough Wittgenstein (1882-1958).
Such a piece of furniture with refined geometry, completely devoid of ornament, may at first glance appear disconcertingly simple. Its construction is, however, extremely refined, each side presenting a different layout. The same subtle elegance characterizes the use of oak faded to white lead, then varnished in black, following the example of ancient techniques developed by Japanese carpenters.
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