Kaktus Candlesticks, on display as part of the "Jazz Age" exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.

Carl Hagenauer (1872-1928) was born in Austria-Hungary (Austria). He apprenticed at the silver firm of Würbel & Czokally in Vienna, then trained as a goldsmith. He founded Hagenauer Werkstätte (Hagenauer Workshop) in 1898, and began making small figurines and household objects.

His son, Karl (1898-1956) enrolled at the Vienna School of Applied Arts when he was 11 years old. He designed items for the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop), a famous Art Nouveau firm, but his career was interrupted by service in the Austro-Hungaria infantry during World War I. He joined the family business in 1919. Initially, he designed brasswork in the style of the Vienna Secession, an art movement that rejected stuffy traditionalism in favor of work reflecting the time and place it was made. His work was usually mirrors, cigar cutters, ashtrays, candlesticks, bookends, corkscrews, lamps, and hood ornaments in the shape of stylized animals or athletes. Karl developed a more Art Deco style in the 1930s, turning out household items and furniture.

Carl's other son, Franz (1906-1986) began studying sculpture at the Vienna School of Applied Arts and joined Hagenauer Werkstätte in 1926. His work focused on the use of sheet iron, steel, brass, and copper, which he transformed into Art Deco figures.

Hagenauer Werkstätte closed in 1987, and the company's retail store was turned into a museum.

The "Kaktus Candlesticks" are of nickel-plated brass, and were made about 1930. Representing a mix of Cubist and Art Nouveau influence, the designer is unknown (but may have been Franz Hagenauer).

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