Bertold Löffler

_{Nieder-Rosenthal, Böhmen 1874 - 1960 Wien}

Bertold Löffler was born in Nieder-Rosenthal (today Dolni Ružodol) in Bohemia in 1874. From 1890 to 1900, Bertold Löffler studied at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts under Franz von Matsch, Carl Otto Czeschka and Koloman Moser. From 1900 he worked as a painter and illustrator. In 1906 Löffler founded ‘Wiener Keramik’ together with Michael Powolny, which entered into a joint sales organisation with the Wiener Werkstätte and in 1912 merged with ‘Gmundner Keramik’ to form the ‘Vereinigte Wiener und Gmundner Keramik’. In 1907 the ‘Wiener Keramik’ furnished the cloakroom and bar room of Cabaret Fledermaus in Vienna and contributed to the artistic design of Palais Stoclet in Brussels. In the same year Löffler took over the management of the specialist class for painting and the workshop for printing processes at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts, where he worked as a professor until 1935. His overall artistic output for the Wiener Werkstätte encompasses postcards, commercial art, jewellery, ceramics, costumes and illustrations. Bertold Löffler died in Vienna in 1960.