Karl Jacob Schwalbach was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1937. Orphaned as a child, he was put in the care of the local community, including that of the priest and art collector Aloys Renkel. He studied for six years under Josef Henselmann at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. There, he trained in printmaking of various forms, silver work, and welding. In 1959 he first participated in an exhibition at the Haus der Kunst in Munich, and from there went on to exhibit at home and abroad. In 1972 he moved to Bavaria and opened a bronze foundry.