He was born in Wisconsin of German ancestry and gifted with ambition and foresight. As a youth he worked for an uncle making chairs but quickly moved on to various partnerships, some involving his four brothers, all the while fine tuning the designs and processes of manufacturing furniture. He was rich, charming, generous, boastful, and in the end. . . The result of some bad decisions and changing tastes. A renewal of interest in the style started slowly in the 1970's and has grown stronger ever since.
Pieces are increasingly harder to find and more expensive.