How Frank Gehry became Frank Gehry

New York

EVEN if you can't name a building by architect Frank Gehry, you'll know it when you see it: his is the structure whose panoply of lines pile up against one another, with angles so improbable as to look barely functional. His style is bright, dynamic, and as subtle as a police siren.

This instantly recognisable aesthetic has helped make Mr Gehry arguably the most famous architect in the world. His name is a brand in itself: there was a Frank Gehry line of jewellery at Tiffany's, a Frank Gehry furniture line from Knoll, and a Frank Gehry handbag from Louis Vuitton. His level of celebrity transcends architecture, derived instead from the perception that he is simply an artistic genius.

In a 1997 New York Times review, architecture critic Herbert Muschamp wrote that Mr Gehry "changed an art form and in the process is changing a culture". That was 18 years ago. His reputation continues to gro…