Fred Miller learned to solder in high school, and when he was ready to work with precious metals, his mother traded a collection of souvenir spoons for several sheets of silver. Miller used this material to create simple watch faces, jewelry and hollowware. He graduated in design from the Cleveland Institute of Art and for thirty years taught at his alma mater, while also designing silverware for a housewares company. Miller’s work was inspired by the functional, simple shapes in Scandinavian design trends of the postwar period.