Arthur Kirkpatrick

1868 - 1941

Arthur Kirkpatrick was born in Oshawa, Ontario on September 16, 1868, and came to Grand Rapids with his parents in 1882. At public schools he showed an early interest in sketching and art. He studied carving and designing in Boston, and for a time practiced wood carving. He joined Berkey & Gay in 1893 and began his artistic career there as assistant designer. Soon after he established his own offices.

As head of the Grand Rapids School of Furniture Designing he became a technical advisor and instructor of design, although he did not become entirely divorced from actual designing. It was one of the few, if not the only school of its kind at the time. He developed a rare philosophy, that design is the basis of all learning. He  trained many of the nation's most successful and famous designers of his day. He was a member of the Grand Rapids Furniture Designers Association and the American Designers Institute. He died August 10, 1941.