As a nine-year-old, he created a piece of gobelin embroidery directly from a postcard reproduction of an old master painting without first having re-drawn it into a pattern template. He designed his first knitted lace doilies soon after. He went on to attend the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg, where he studied a variety of crafts during his 4-year apprenticeship, ranging from ceramics to tapestry. Nevertheless, it was at knitting design that he most excelled. He published his first knit lace patterns with Otto Beyer in the early 1930s. Publications from 1936 list his residence as Itzehoe.
