Biography

J.T. Kalmar, Austria (1884-…)

J. T. Kalmar, aka Julius Theodor Kalmar, is an Austrian designer-entrepreneur.

Julius Theodor (J.T.) Kalmar was born in 1884 in Vienna. Son of Julius August Kalmar – founder of the eponymous company specializing in chandeliers.

Kalmar acquired extensive design expertise during his formative years, when he attended the Birmingham School of Art, as well as the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, headed by Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956), architect of the Vienna Secession.

In the 1930s, Kalmar began collaborating with the Austrian Werkbund, an association founded by architects, artists, artisans and manufacturers who adhered to the principles of modernist design. Kalmar has created for the Werkbund a series of chandeliers and glass fixtures.

Throughout his career, Kalmar has designed luminaries for many renowned architects, including Oskar Haerdtl, Oswald Haerdtl, Oskar Strnad, Clemens Holzmeister, Oskar Haarl, Carl Appel, Erich Boltenstern and Ernst Plischke. institutions such as the Vienna State Opera, the Burg Theater and the Vienna Stock Exchange.

During the last decade of his life, Kalmar has developed a number of very popular lighting collections, including Tulipan (circa 1960), Ice Glass (1960) and Atomic (1969).