Founded in 1849, the company Joh. Backhausen & Söhne is one of the most traditional manufacturers of furniture and decorative fabrics in Vienna’s history.
From 1903 onwards, the company actively collaborated with contemporary artists, including prominent figures of the Viennese Modernism movement such as Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, Otto Wagner, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Jutta Sika, Dagobert Peche, My Ullmann, and Otto Prutscher. Backhausen specialized in bringing their designs to life and became the main supplier for the Wiener Werkstätte, founded by Hoffmann, Moser, and Fritz Waerndorfer. This fruitful symbiosis culminated in projects such as the interiors of the Sanatorium Purkersdorf (1904/05), Villa Skywa-Primavesi (1913–1915), and Palais Stoclet in Brussels (1905–1911).

Through various thematic focal points, the exhibition will offer insight into the museum holdings of the Backhausen Archive, making this unique heritage accessible to a wider public.