Paul Ernst Kafka b. 1 January 1907

  • Maker (Furniture Designer / Cabinetmaker)
Kafka was a Viennese furniture maker who arrived in Australia in 1939 and worked under the name, Paul Kafka Exclusive Furniture Pty Ltd. He executed commissioned work for Australian modernist architects such as Hugo Stossel, Hugh Buhrich, Harry Seidler and Harry Epstein. He also carried out contract work for Sheraton, the Chevron Hotel and for the Travelodge motel chain.

Citations

  • Anne Watson (1 January 2004), 'Kafka and Kalmar: two European furniture designers in post-war Sydney’.

  • Kirsty Grant, et al. Mid-Century Modern. Australian Furniture Design. Natl Gallery of Victoria, 2014.

  • Harriet Edquist, “Vienna Abroad.” RMIT Design Archives Journal, 9:1, 2019, p.34 (bio summary)

  • Rebecca Hawcroft, ‘The Other Moderns: Sydney’s forgotten European Design Legacy’, UNSW Press, 2017.

    https://australianmodern.wordpress.com/2017/11/10/the-moderns-european-designers-in-sydney/