Known for his expansive creativity and refusal to be content with easy solutions, Paul Tuttle was one of the most original, prolific and uncompromising designers of the mid-to-late twentieth century. Elegant, refined, precisely crafted, often playful—Tuttle’s work reflects his unwavering commitment to solving problems in his own unique way.

Essentially self-taught, Tuttle briefly attended the Art Center School in Los Angeles (now the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena). There his talent captured the attention of Alvin Lustig and he worked for a short time in Lustig's studio. He also apprenticed with architects Welton Becket and Thornton Ladd.

Tuttle's earliest furniture designs date back to the 1950s and show his modernist commitment to structure and material. By the mid-1960s he had earned a retrospective exhibition at the Pasadena Art Museum. In 1966 he won the prestigious Carson Pirie Scott Young Designer Award for his widely acclaimed “Z” Chair. In 1982 he received a design grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 1968 Tuttle was hired by the renowned Swiss firm, Strässle International, to design furniture on a contractual basis. From that point forward he maintained dual careers in Switzerland and Santa Barbara, California. Between 1982 and 2001, his most productive "Santa Barbara Years", he designed over 200 chairs, tables, lounges, carts, benches and easels, as well as residential and office interiors.