Julius Theodor Kalmar Biography
The Austrian designer-entrepreneur Julius Theodor (JT) Kalmar (1884 - 1969) was born in 1884 in Vienna. The son of Julius August Kalmar, founder of the eponymous company specializing in chandeliers and other cast bronze objects, Kalmar gained extensive design experience in his formative years. Kalmar attended the Birmingham School of Art and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna under the Vienna Secession architect Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956). Kalmar joined his father's company in 1906, finally taking over in 1913. As a strong supporter of the Arts & Crafts movement, Kalmar guided the company away from the eclecticism of the late 19th century. Kalmar's design aesthetic was characterized by an integration of form and function and a blend of classic tradition and forward-thinking innovation. By the mid-1920s, his designs dominated the influential avant-garde furniture store Haus & Garten, founded by the famous architects Josef Frank (1885-1967) and Oskar Wlach (1881-1963). In the 1930s, Kalmar began collaborating with the Austrian Werkbund, an association founded by architects, artists, craftsmen and manufacturers committed to the principles of modernist design. Using traditional materials such as glass, bronze and brass, these designs lacked ornamentation, instead favoring a purist aesthetic. Over the course of his career, Kalmar has designed luminaires for many famous architects, including Josef Frank and Oskar Wlach, Oskar Strnad, Clemens Holzmeister, Oswald Haerdtl, Carl Appel, Erich Boltenstern and Ernst Plischke, as well as for major institutions, such as the Vienna Opera, Burg Theater and Vienna Stock Exchange. In the last decade of its life, Kalmar developed a number of very popular lighting collections, including Tulipan (ca. 1960), Ice Glass (1960s) and Atomic (1969). Kalmar died in 1968, but the company continued under the direction of his son-in-law, Rudols Calice. Today Thomas Calice, a fourth generation family member, manages the company. Kalmar lighting can be found in notable locations around the world, including the RMS Queen Mary 2, the Kremlin Presidential Palace in Moscow and the Burj Tower in Dubai.
