He traveled abroad during his education, studying architecture in Paris, London and Switzerland as well as watercolor painting in Fontainebleau.
While teaching at Georgia Tech, he found a love of working with wood in the school’s industrial arts shop where he had access to many various woodworking tools.
Moulthrop eventually left Georgia Tech to pursue a career in architecture, later becoming the chief designer for Robert and Company.
Some of these modernist designs even drew compliments from world-famous architects, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, who once pointed to one of Moulthrop’s buildings and said “I like that one”.
A lot of Moulthrop's architectural designs can still be seen today throughout the U.S. including portions of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., the Van Leer Electrical Engineering building at Georgia Tech, the Atlanta Civic Center, the Carillon Tower at Stone Mountain, and the Callaway Memorial Chapel at Callaway Gardens.
Over the years, Moulthrop developed relationships with several gallery owners, others in the wood working fields and several well-known clients.
This led to a friendship that would last Moulthrop the rest of his life and a relationship that would place his pieces in the hands of political dignitaries worldwide.
Philip Moulthrop’s active duty took him straight to Vietnam where he was assigned to work as a language instructor in Saigon.
Bud Jacobson acquired several of Philips pieces for his own collection, which was later featured at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution.
Michael Monroe, curator-in-charge of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American Art, was chosen to be the curator of this new collection.
In June 2004 Philip’s work was chosen to be used as gifts for each of the eight national leaders attending the G8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia.
He provided eight bowls, which would travel home to eight nations, helping give worldwide recognition as a prominent wood turner.