MANUFACTURER, PUBLISHER

From Soap to Art.

In 1893, at the age of thirty-s even, Elbert Hubbard had already made his fortune in soap manufacturing and abandoned the business world for a life dedicated to educating the American public about the Arts and Crafts movement. Using his business savvy and motivated by a passion for medieval-inspired designs for fabric, paper, ceramics, and furniture, Hubbard turned a small publishing venture into the lifeblood of a community of artists, craftspeople, and workers dedicated to preserving superior craftsmanship in an era of mass production.

Background.

Elbert Hubbard was born on 19 June 1856 in Bloomington, Indiana. At fifteen he moved to Buffalo, New York, to help his brother-in-law, John Larkin, start a soap-manufacturing business. He would later say that he had achieved his education in the "University of Hard Knocks." As a charming, handsome, talkative young man,...