This is 99% invisible.

9 Roman Mars

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Friedrich Frobo.

His early life reads like one of those dark old German fairy tales.

His mother died in 1783, right after he was born.

And so Friedrich Frobo had a lonely childhood.

He spent his days in the woods looking at trees and rocks and flowers,

during the dense forests of Thuringia, and what was then, Prussia.

It's a lush region, sometimes referred to today as Das Grüner Herz Deutschlands,

the green heart of Germany.

That's Kurt Colstead, he produced this story.

I actually lived near Thuringia when I was a kid, and the forests there are

are even fachetzauberhoft, simply magical.

And I can really see how Frobo became enthroned.

He looked at rocks, he studied the trees, he was, we worked with a forester for a while,

he was an apprentice forester.

That's Norman Brosterman, he's an author who studied Friedrich Frobo for years.

Brosterman says that Frobo worked for a time as a land surveyor and even served in the military.

He was skilled at drafting in geometry, and at one point became convinced he should be an architect.

He did everything you need to become an architect, he took all the right classes.

But he didn't become an architect, a friend convinced him to become an educator instead.

And in changing course, Frobo arguably ended up having more influence in the world of architecture and design

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