He was one of the truly original creative talent of his generation. He trained at the Glasgow School of Art, he worked as an apprentice to the architect John Huchinson before joining the practice of Honeyman and Keppie. The spirit of his work is encapsulated in his major achievement, the Glasgow School of Art, here we can see the development from the Art Noveau influence to the geometric Modernist purism. His furniture designs represent the most innovative and individual British furniture of the period.