Bauhaus Christmas Ornaments

Last updated: 18 October 2026

What the Bauhaus Christmas ornaments are

The Bauhaus was the German art and design school that ran from 1919 to 1933. These ornaments date from its last years, when it was based in Dessau. They are small wooden shapes on string: balls, cones, cylinders, a cube and a bell. Some are painted red, blue-grey, green or raspberry pink, and some are left as bare maple.

IC Design reissued them to mark the school's centenary in 2019. The Zurich company makes licensed reissues of forgotten 20th-century designs, including pieces by Man Ray and Sophie Taeuber-Arp.

All twelve ornaments in the set, each hung from its own string.

The twelve ornaments in the set

Every ornament is a different shape, so nothing on the tree repeats. Here is what comes in the box:

• A red ball under a small maple cap.
• A stack of six short cylinders in red, maple, pink, blue and green, set at angles to each other.
• Two ridged maple balls with a flat blue-grey disc between them.
• A blue-grey double cone, pointing up and down, with a small red spindle underneath.
• A column of five cones, alternating red and maple.
• A raspberry pink cube, hung from one corner.
• A long maple spindle above a ridged blue-grey ball.
• Three maple cones stacked point down.
• A plain maple bell.
• A blue-grey square column with two red rings around it.
• Six blue-grey cones stacked into a narrow point.
• A stepped tower of cylinders in green, red, maple and blue-grey.

Most have a small coloured bead at the top and bottom. Each one hangs from its own brown string.

The Triadic Ballet connection

IC Design compares the shapes to the costumes Oskar Schlemmer designed for the Triadic Ballet. Schlemmer taught at the Bauhaus. The ballet had its world premiere in Stuttgart on 22 September 1922, danced by three performers. According to the Oskar Schlemmer estate, the costumes reduce the human figure to geometric shapes and forms.

The ornaments use the same approach on a tiny scale. Each one is built from simple turned shapes, such as cones, discs, balls and cylinders, stacked on a string.

If you want the story of what happened to the school's teachers once they left Germany, read Isokon and the Bauhaus in Britain. It covers the Hampstead flats where Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer and László Moholy-Nagy lived in the mid-1930s.

Size, materials and price

The ornaments are small. The tallest pieces, the stacked cones, are about 10cm long, roughly the height of a mug. The bell is about 3cm, close to the size of a walnut.

Buying them from the Barbican Shop

The Barbican Shop is the online shop of the Barbican Centre in the City of London. The set costs £180, and UK delivery is free by Royal Mail Tracked 48. The shop usually dispatches within two working days, then aims to deliver in three to five working days.

The shop is not currently sending orders to Northern Ireland, the EU or the United States. If the present is for someone there, send it to a mainland UK address and pass it on yourself.

The set comes in a printed gift box. If it is a present, the shop takes back unused items in their original packaging within 28 days of delivery. A set delivered in early December can still go back after Christmas Day. One ordered now has to go back in November.

See the Bauhaus Christmas ornaments at the Barbican

The downsides

The £15 bauble. At £180 for twelve, each ornament costs far more than a high-street bauble. You are paying for the hand turning, the licensed design and the history.

The small scale. The pieces are 3 to 10cm long. On a big tree, hang them at eye level, or use them on a small tree or a branch in a vase.

The wooden finish. They are painted wood, so they do not reflect the fairy lights like glass. On the plus side, they will not smash if one falls off the tree.

Who they suit

They suit anyone who loves modernist design, and anyone who would rather have twelve decorations they keep for decades than a box they replace every few years. They also suit a first home, because twelve ornaments dress a small tree in one go.

For more ideas, my best Christmas gifts UK guide has these ornaments among 21 picks. The gifts for designers collection has more.

Bauhaus Christmas ornaments: FAQs

How much are the Bauhaus Christmas ornaments?

£180 for the boxed set of twelve at the Barbican Shop, with free UK delivery. That is £15 an ornament. I checked the price and stock on 18 October 2026.

Who designed the Bauhaus Christmas ornaments?

They are attributed to Johannes Gabriel, a Bauhaus architect, and date from 1929 to 1930. IC Design of Zurich reissued them for the school's centenary in 2019.

What are they made of?

Turned maple wood, some left bare and some painted, hung on string. They are made in the Black Forest in Germany, largely by hand.

How big are they?

The stacked cones are 4in (about 10cm) long and the bell is 1.25in (about 3cm) high. The rest sit between the two.

Do they come in a gift box?

Yes. The set arrives in a printed box showing all twelve shapes, ready to give.

Can I order them for delivery to Northern Ireland?

Not from the Barbican Shop at the moment. It has paused deliveries to Northern Ireland and the EU, so order to a mainland UK address instead.

How do I look after them?

Dust them with a soft, dry cloth. Store them in their gift box between Christmases.

Prices and stock change, so check the Barbican Shop before you buy. I checked the price, stock and delivery terms on the Barbican Shop on 18 October 2026.

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