Paul Thiersch

Following his primary education, and a brief stint as a bricklayer, he attended the Zurich University of Applied Sciences from 1897 to 1898, then studied art at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel [de] from 1900 to 1901.

In 1906, he moved to Düsseldorf, where he became Office Manager for the architect and painter, Peter Behrens, but stayed there for only a short time, then went to Berlin; serving in the same position for Bruno Paul and teaching at the Kunstgewerschule.

In 1915, upon the recommendation of Bruno Paul, he was chosen from seventy-six applicants to become director of the Handwerkerschule (Crafts School) in Halle.

He immediately began to reorganize the school according to the principles of the Deutscher Werkbund, hiring several new instructors and beginning a new program for textiles.

In hopes of working full-time as an architect, he accepted the chair of "spatial art" at the University of Hanover, and was succeeded at the Burg by Marcks.