MILO BAUGHMAN \bȯf-man\ (1923-2003) As a young man living in Long Beach, California, Milo demonstrated a high-spirited, creative flair, especially for the visual arts. When he was thirteen, his parents decided to build a house. So Milo’s parents challenged him to develop an architectural plan for the interior and exterior of the home. His parents constructed the house Milo designed, and they lived in it for 34 years. Baughman graduated high school in 1941, then served in the Army Air Forces until 1945. After the war, he attended California Institute for the Arts, majoring in Product and Architectural Design.
Read MoreThayer Coggin's love of furniture began one early Christmas morning, when all he asked for was a claw hammer. After receiving it, Thayer made his own bedroom suite. A few years later, in shop class at High Point High School, he made rocking chairs and cedar chests for tuition to attend High Point College. Then, after service in WWII, he returned to his first love and founded James Manufacturing. But, Thayer dreamed of producing designs that were innovative. He traveled to Europe for inspiration and he was impressed by the light-scaled upholstery he saw there. He said, "The simple, clean lines appealed to my sense of beauty...[their impression] hit me like a ton of bricks." Home in High Point, he developed a singular focus: to develop furniture featuring sleek, horizontal lines, synonymous with the ranch-style homes that characterized post-war suburbia.
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