He studied ceramics and graphics at the State School of Arts and Crafts in Tallinn, Estonia from 1931 to 1933 and at the "Pallas" College of Fine Arts in Tartu, where he received degrees in Painting and Graphic Arts. He worked in Estonia as a freelance artist and a drawing teacher, but in 1943, in the midst of the turmoil of war, he was forced into exile, moving around Northern Europe, first to Finland in 1943 and 1944 and then eventually to Sweden where he worked until 1949 as a commercial artist, designer and illustrator in Stockholm.
He studied ceramics and graphics at the State School of Arts and Crafts in Tallinn, Estonia from 1931 to 1933 and at the "Pallas" College of Fine Arts in Tartu, where he received degrees in Painting and Graphic Arts. He worked in Estonia as a freelance artist and a drawing teacher, but in 1943, in the midst of the turmoil of war, he was forced into exile, moving around Northern Europe, first to Finland in 1943 and 1944 and then eventually to Sweden where he worked until 1949 as a commercial artist, designer and illustrator in Stockholm.