Hungarian-born Paul Laszlo studied in Vienna, Paris, and Berlin, then opened his design office in Stuttgart prior to WW2. He emigrated to the USA in 1936, famously buying a car on landing in New York and promptly driving cross-country to Los Angeles, where he quickly set himself up in Beverly Hills designing modern houses and interiors. He enjoyed rapid success, in part due to his European references and cosmopolitan style, and his client list soon included such luminaries as Cary Grant and Barbara Hutton, Billy Wilder, Barry Goldwater, and the Vanderbilt family. Even his non-projects were A-list, as he famously refused Elizabeth Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck as clients. His personality and talents were so admired that he enjoyed decades of success across a wide range of projects. From single pieces of furniture to whole lines, single-family residences to department stores and casinos, even a bomb shelter, Laszlo's warm, organic forms and mastery of color resulted in fully integrated projects that are at once both simple and sophisticated. A complete designer, Laszlo's furniture, textile and lighting designs have never gone out of fashion, as evidenced by the high prices his pieces command in today's design marketplace.