Josef Kohn

Place: Vienna

Born: 1814

Death: 1884

Biography:

Josef Kohn was an Austrian furniture maker and interior designer in Vienna. He was born in Vienna, Austria in 1814 and died in 1884. Together with his father Jacob Kohn, he founded the enterprise J. & J. Kohn in 1849. Kohn would later rise to become one of the leading furniture makers in Austria-Hungary, becoming one of the leading competitors of Gebrüder Thonet. Kohn worked together with artists of the Wiener Werkstätte and Josef Hoffmann in the design of many pieces. Kohn merged with Mundus in 1914, which in turn merged with Gebrüder Thonet in 1921 to become the world’s largest furniture manufacturer. The Kohns' received many awards and prizes for their work. They received a Spanish Royal Warrant of Appointment as purveyors of the royal house (Proveedor de la Real Casa). Kohn's works can be seen in a number of museum today, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna and Disseny Hub Barcelona.