In 1915, Vienna native Emmy Zweybrück-Prochaska opened an applied arts school for girls and young women in the Austrian capital. Her aim was to release the creativity in her students, both amateurs and those who hoped to have an art career. She encouraged her students by publishing some of their work in book form, the 1920s “stencil” books of the Emmy Zweybrück School.

Mrs. Zweybrück-Prochaska’s training was in design – textiles, jewelry, wallpaper, packaging, advertising, even business cards. She produced fans, bags, scarves, pillows and more for the Wiener Werkstatte and other major European companies. She was celebrated as a toymaker. In 1939, she emigrated to the United States, where she was already well known, and continued working and teaching. She died in New York City.