The ‘wild story’ behind the6040s: Fort Wayne’s first mid-century modern furniture & home decor shop

You might say it started in the 1990s, in Mr. Robert Short’s drafting class at Snider High School to be exact. That’s where then-Fort Wayne student Lee Bender first learned about mid-century modern architecture and design.

During four years of drafting class, Bender came to appreciate its clean lines, its muted curves, its lack of ornamentation embodied in the forms of Frank Lloyd Wright or the cantilevered BRNO chairs of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

When Bender left Fort Wayne after high school, he lived many kids’ dream: Becoming a professional skateboarder, sponsored by likes of Nike SB, Independent Trucks, OJ Wheels and more. His career skating and fixing up old Harley Davidson motorcycles allowed him to travel the country and world, for business and pleasure.