 In an interview he recalls his "father saying 'Measure three times and cut once'; I would be of the school of cut three times and never measure"

He opened his first personal shop in New York in 1949.In 1950 the Kagan-Dreyfus partnership began with a showroom/store on 125 East 57th Street in New York City.His early work included furniture for the Delegate's Cocktail Lounge at the United Nations and furniture for the "Monsanto House of the Future" at Disneyland.