Hartmut Ringel was born in 1970 in West Germany. He studied geography but soon changed to an apprenticeship in a joiner’s workshop where he learned the fine handling of wood and the art of furniture-building. With a degree in fine cabinet making, he traveled as a journeyman and worked in many shops all over Europe, after the Iron Curtain came down. From 1998 to 2002, he studied art and design at the art college Angewandte Kunst Schneeberg in Saxony, after which he co-founded the design studio “Studio Hartensteiner” in Leipzig, Germany. On the occasion of a spiritual retreat, he came with his wife and son to Wisconsin in 2004. The family liked it here and stayed. He is currently represented by Wantoot Gallery in Mineral Point, the Cornerstone Gallery in Baraboo, Teak & Soxy in Princeton and the shop of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.