The iconic designs that are still handcrafted today by the Auböck workshop, now in its fourth generation in Vienna, were ahead of their time from the beginning and shaped Austrian design across generations.

The book and exhibition focus on the defining era of the interwar and post-war periods and also refer to the experimental 1980s. The works are viewed through the lens of surrealism. For the first time, works by the sculptor and textile artist Mara Uckunowa-Auböck (1895-1987), who met Carl Auböck II (1900-1957) at the Bauhaus in Weimar, are also presented.

The book contains, among other things, newly published photographs of the essential, original works shown in the exhibition, as well as a foreword by Lilli Hollein, texts by Kimberly Bradley on the workshop in the international design context, by Nina Schedlmayer on the history of the workshop, and by Bärbel Vischer on the surrealist perspective on the comprehensive oeuvre of the Auböck workshop.