It began as an accident, one of those serendipitous events in an artist’s life. For Harry Bertoia, it was an accident that would launch a series of unique sculptures that would become world-renowned.

The story goes that Bertoia, an Italian-born American artist, sculptor and designer, was in his studio in Bally, Berks County, when it happened. In the 1950s, Bertoia already had made his name as a furniture designer for Knoll Furniture in East Greenville, Montgomery County.