When the Bauhaus in Weimar closed in April 1925, in order to move to Dessau, he did not go with it to complete his studies, but stayed in Weimar. After completing his journeyman's exams in silversmithing he became a member of the German Werkbund. He took the position an assistant in the metal workshop at the "Staatlichen Hochschule für Handwerk und Baukunst Weimar", (State Academy of Crafts and Architecture) on 1 April 1926, and on 1 April 1928 he became head of the department. The school closed on 1 April 1930 due to Nazi pressure, but Wagner and the other tutors received the rights to all designs they had developed while working at the school.