Henry W. Klein
Henry Walter Klein was born in 1919 in Norway. His mother was from Norway and his father was from Hamburg, Germany. He grew up in a very small village and transported himself to school on a pair of skis. He earned several degrees in language and mathematics. He loved mathematics, a great passion that lasted his whole life. He used to read mathematic books at bedtime! During the war he studied and joined the Norwegian Royal Marine. For two years he worked as a cabinetmaker, and then in 1949, he went to Frederikberg Tekniske Skole in Denmark for three years, where Finn Juhl was head of teaching. In 1952, he could call himself “Boligkonsulent” or an interior consultant–what we might call an interior designer today. Klein married a Danish woman named Tove and they moved back to his home country of Norway, where he started his own interior design practice. Klein started to develop a new method for manufacturing plastic furniture with an engineer. Klein sells the patent to 46 companies, including Fritz Hansen and Bramin. The contact with Bramin is very good, and the Klein family moves to Bramming Denmark in 1960 where he starts to work for Bramin. When Bramin closes down in the 1980s he starts working from home. He lived in San Francisco, and he designed many couches for the American market. He also had contacts in Italy and Thailand and travelled around the world.