CHRISTIANSEN, Hans

German designer. After an early career as an interior designer, he turned to the design of tapestries (subsequently woven at the Scherbeker Kunstgewerbeschule), porcelain (tablewares), drinking glasses (for the Theresienthaler Kristallglasfabrik) and silver cutlery.

He studied at the Munich School of Arts and Crafts (1887-88). In 1890, he studied a collection of Japanese prints, which inspired him to develop a new, two-dimensional ornamental style. He was so impressed by the Tiffany glass that he encountered at the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago that he subsequently produced designs opalescent glassware in collaboration with the art glazier Karl Engelbrecht (1858-1902). In 1895, while studying at the Academie Julian in Paris, he encountered the Art Nouveau style of Georges de Feure and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, which strongly influenced his work. From 1897, he worked for the magazine Jugend and turned increasingly towards applied artGLOSSARYTerm describing the design or decoration of functional objects so as to make them aesthetically pleasing. It is used in distinction to fine art, although there is often no clear dividing line between the two terms.. In 1899, he became one of the founding members of the Darmstadt Artists' Colony.

Christiansen was an important representative of German Jugendstil. Bearing the pronounced stamp of French Art Nouveau, his best-known works include designs for fabrics and wallpapers, characterized by continuously self-repeating serpentine lines. He also designed silver jewellery, stained glass windows, and delicate items of domestic glass, as well as graphic works.

After 1914, he worked primarily as a painter and writer.