Fritz Abplanalp

Born in Brienz, Switzerland, at 18 years of age, after completing a three-year curriculum in woodcarving, he answered an advertisement to work on the interior of the Episcopalian Convent of the Transfiguration in Glendale, Ohio.

In 1935, he was recruited by the elegant Honolulu branch of the renown department store S. and G. Gump and Company to come to Hawaii and produce hand-carved home furnishings and decor.

Working with tropical woods such as koa, mahogany, mango, kamani, and monkeypod, he carved sculptural wooden perfume containers, highly detailed room screens, trays and bowls, table and floor lamps, and figural art sculptures including Polynesian heads for sale in the store, and also produced custom woodworking and furniture such as tables, chairs, cabinets, sideboards, and bedroom suites, for homes and commercial interiors.

Abplanalp's monkeypod sculpture, The Offering (Hawaiian Dancer), is owned by the Honolulu Museum of Art.

In 1942, with the war rendering Hawaii’s tourism nonexistent, he joined the faculty of Kamehameha Schools to teach woodworking, art, and drafting.