Gaylord Ho was born in 1950, in Hsin-Wu, Taiwan. Born to poor farmers, Gaylord spent most of his free time helping with the chores of scratching out a living on a small rice farm in middle Taiwan. His parents, while certainly not well off financially, were accepting and loving of their children and believed strongly in education. Ho was sent off to the public school system as soon as he was of age. He was not, however, relieved of his duties on the farm and spent many afternoons and holidays wading in the rice paddies pulling weeds and grass, planting rice plants or harvesting the latest crops. Water buffalo was the main farm equipment of the day. After attending the local school system, Ho entered and graduated from the National Taiwan Academy of Arts. His parents were tolerant of his artistic leanings although Ho says his first foray into art was with crayon on the kitchen wall. His parents were not, however, convinced that art was a good occupation. Ho was "called" and would not sway from his goal to be an artist. He graduated at the top of his class. His student sculptures won the National Sculpture Exhibition. After fulfilling his military obligation, all Taiwan boys must spend two years in military service after graduating college. He decided that he could advance his sculpting skills by studying under some of the great Japanese sculptors of the day. He traveled to Seto City, Japan, outside of Nagoya, and lived as an apprentice there during 1975 and again in 1977. The opportunity to learn was great. The conditions under which he lived and learned were not so great. Ho explains that he ate miso soup every day for breakfast, for lunch and then again for dinner. As a young man it was barely enough to subsist upon and he still complains that his stomach was hungry every day. The experience, however, gave him sharpened sculpting skills and an in-depth knowledge of the techniques of porcelain and ceramic manufacturing. Back in Taiwan, he used these newly acquired skills to gain employment at a well known porcelain factory. During this period, in 1979, he and wife Lucia, established the Nomiso Porcelain Design Center. In 1986, the name was changed to Gaylord Design Corporation. Over the years Ho has enjoyed much commercial success. He is world famous in the gift and collectibles industry for his numerous successful designs. He has been nominated "Artist of the Year" many times by the collectibles industry. He has been honored by such groups as the National Association of Limited Edition Dealers for his award winning sculptures. He has won awards for his individual sculpts almost every year for the past twenty years. Having achieved the financial success that he needed to support his family, Gaylord now is directing his full energy into satisfying the artist within himself. The artist who, as a student created art just for fun, is now being realized but at the hands of an accomplished masterfully skilled sculptor. Ho now splits time between two homes, one in Chungli, Taiwan and one in Palos Verdes, California. He also spends time in his satellite sculpting studio in Shanghai, China. It is set in a beautiful public park area and allows him time to concentrate on sculpting while also practicing his other passion, teaching. Ho spends a lot of his time teaching other sculptors and student sculptors about the fine points of his profession. He teaches students in Taiwan and in Shanghai, China.