Harry Bertoia

Harry Bertoia (1915 - 1978), artist, sculptor, and designer of modern furniture, was born in Italy. In 1932 he received a scholarship to Cass Technical High School in Detroit, where he studied painting and sculpture.

In 1939 he received another scholarship, this time to the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, founded by Eliel Saarinen. Here he also met Charles Eames. In the 1940s he devoted himself entirely to furniture making. In 1950 he established his own company in Bally, Pennsylvania. In the same year he began working with Florence and Hans Knoll, whom he also met at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. His first chair designed for the Knoll firm, the "Model 420 Diamond" (1950 - 1952), made of molded chrome-plated steel wire, was an immediate best seller.