In the mid-1920s, the young artisan Else Stadler-Jacobs from Pasing near Munich began to experiment with textile materials. She was fascinated by bast – a fabric rarely used in handicrafts at that time. Demonstrating huge skill, she designed decorative animal figures that rapidly gained international recognition. As early as 1930 she was delivering her models to department stores in Chicago, San Francisco, London and Budapest.

Daniel Karrasch and Christoph Sauter recount the moving artistic and commercial success of this extraordinary woman, shed light on her artistic roots in Munich in the period after 1900, and reconstruct the complicated production process of her bast animals. A richly illustrated catalogue section, supplemented with historical photos, uncovers the imaginative world of the "Basto-workshop".

• Fascinating life story of a pioneer in a unique craft
• Tribute to a forgotten international success story