Karl Klaus
Karl Klaus studied under Josef Hoffmann at the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule from 1908 to 1911. In 1911 Klaus joined the Wiener Werkstätte. Because the design workshop executed no ceramics until after World War I, ceramic designs were sent to firms that had the expertise to produce opulent, hand-painted faience and porcelains. Klaus and his Werkstätte colleagues designed an extraordinary body of porcelain designs that were produced by the Ernst Wahliss factory under the name Serapis-Fayence. It is possible that during this time, Klaus served as Wahliss's artistic director. The names of the individual artists did not appear in the mark.
Karl Klaus attended Fachschule für Tischler (College for Cabinetmakers); the Graphische Lehr und Versuchsanstalt (Institute for Graphic Studies); and from 1907 – 1911 studied at the Vienna Kunstgerwerbeschule, for the final three years under Josef Hoffmann. He served as an apprentice to a cabinet-maker in the workshop of Otto Prutscher before taking up ceramics as a lifelong pursuit.
In 1911 Klaus joined the Wiener Werkstätte and, along with colleagues Franz Staudigl, Willy Russ, and Charles Galle, began to create an extraordinary body of work known as the Serapis-Wahliss line made at the Ernst Wahliss factory in Teplitz, Austria. That year Klaus exhibited Serapis-Wahliss tea and coffee services and vases with his characteristically intricate patterns. His designs for vases, figures, boxes, sweet dishes, and other pieces made by Wahliss were also exhibited in 1913-14 at the Österreichisches Museum and appeared at the Werkbund Ausstellung (Work Union Exhibition) in Cologne in 1914.
Klaus's powerful graphic voice is expressed through bold geometric figures or stylized flowers repeated in patterns that emphasize a play of positive and negative space while responding to the undulating forms of the ceramics bodies. The patterns are often enriched with outlines or independent lines or dots in metallic gold. The gold enamel acts almost as a metal mount, giving the ceramic a quality of preciousness. Karl Klaus's designs were certainly meant to be seen in the company of Hoffmann furniture and Moser textiles. More than most creations of the first decade of the 20th century, they seem to prefigure the urbane designs of the Art Deco era.