German industrial designer who apprenticed as a cabinetmaker and graduated from the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Berlin Academy of Fine Arts) in 1912. In 1914, he was sent as a designer for Germany's exhibit at the Panama -Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, was stranded there by World War I, and settled in the U.S. From 1922-1927 he was art director for the Barker Brothers store in Los Angeles where he introduced his modern style to the shop he designed there. After 1927, he worked for numerous other manufacturers in the design of modern furniture, including his famous 1935 Airline chair. Another classic streamlined design was his 1934 Zephyr digital electric clock. During this same period, he designed the Art Center School in Los Angeles. Toward the end of the 1930s he worked mostly on interiors and architecture, rather than products.