Wolfgang Hoffmann

1900 – 1969

The son of Josef Hoffmann, he moved to the United States in the middle ‚of the twenties. In the US he designed furniture for private clients and afterwards he specialized in the design of metal furniture as resident architect for the Howell Co.

The Son of Josef Hoffmann, he was introduced by his father to the decorative arts. After the marriage with Pola, the couple moved to New York in 1925, and the two were welcomed by the group of Austrian architects who had emigrated to the USA in previous years, working for a short time for Joseph Urban. Later they opened their own studio in Madison Avenue, designing furniture for private clients, as well as tables and accessories for the Early American Pewter Company. After the divorce in the ’30s, Hoffmann began working for the Howell Co, a company of which he became Resident Designer, drawing a wide range of products tube and steel plate, baptized under the trade name „Chromsteel“. With the drop in orders due to the war, Hoffmann left the profession and started a new career as a professional photographer.

Suggested readings

Wolfgang Hoffmann, „Howell modern Chromsteel furniture : catalog no. 16“, Howell Co, St. Charles, Ill. ©1936
Wolfgang Hoffmann, Hastings Table Co., and others, „The Sunlight House Interiors Designed by Wolfgang Hoffmann: Century of Progress 1933“, Century of Progress International Exposition, 10933