Ward Bennett is a phenomenon. His career began at age 13, when he left school to work in fashion in New York. At 15, he designed his first clothing collection and, at 16, departed for Europe, where he continued working as a fashion designer.

In New York, his reputation earned him excellent clients such as David Rockefeller and Chase Manhattan Bank, Tiffany & Co, Sasaki, and Italian businessman Gianni Agnelli, Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner. Former American President Lyndon Baines Johnson asked Bennett to design a chair for his presidential library that would be “a cross between a bar chair and an auditorium chair, but also reminiscent of a riding saddle.”

In Europe, Ward Bennett attended art schools in Florence and Paris, but was self-taught, highly skilled in illustration, sculpture, jewelry and furniture design, in addition to working as an interior designer. “I learn from people,” he said in reference to his long line of influences, including Hattie Carnegie, Hans Hoffman, and Georgia O’Keeffe.

Simplicity and comfort were always his goals. Ward Bennett designed more than 150 chairs, many of which became classics, such as the Landmark chair, relaunched by Geiger in 1993. Bennett is considered the first American to use industrial materials for residential furniture—well before the high-tech look of the 1970s became popular. He was honored by the American Institute of Architects for “transforming industrial materials into sublime objects.” “There was nothing superfluous about Ward’s designs, nothing extra,” says Tim deFiebre, Bennett’s former assistant and holder of his legacy. “They were always refined to their essence, and that was the foundation of Bennett’s work,” he said.

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