1882 – Vienna – 1961
architect, interior, fashion and set designer
Originally a private student of painter Max Kurzweil, thereafter Koloman Moser student and then studied under A. Roller at the school of Arts and Crafts. 1903/07 student under Josef Hoffmann at the College of Architecture. 1907/22 collaboration with the Wiener Werkstätte. Along with numerous designs for the WW he was also responsible for some of the furnishings at Palais Stoclet. Many works were created in collaboration with Hoffmann.
From 1918, head of the fashion and textile production class at the School of Arts and Crafts. In the 1920s, also head of the fashion department of the Wiener Werkstätte. 1922/23 visit to the USA (lecture on interior decoration and arts & crafts at the Institute of Chicago). From 1925, back in Vienna.
Wimmer-Wisgrill was a very important architect, especially during the period around 1907 when he worked together with Hoffmann at the Wiener Werkstätte. He was responsible for many important designs of silver and metal, jewellery, furniture, fixtures and fittings and fabric. Later he became head of the haut couture department of the WW, the only financially successful department of the WW. Many works designed by him are to be found at the MAK, the Neue Galerie, New York, and numerous other important collections and museums.
ref.: H. Vollmer, Künstlerlexikon des 20. Jahrhunderts, vol. 5, p. 144; V. J. Behal, Möbel des Jugendstils, p. 76