Snelling came to Australia in 1942 following design work in the U.S.A. and New Zealand. During the 1939-45 war, he returned to the U.S.A. and worked with the U.S. Navy and the Kriesler Radio Company. In 1947 he formed a partnership in Sydney to manufacture furniture to his designs. This became Functional Products Pty Ltd. His subsequent architecture career in Australia and elsewhere parallels his embrace of modernism.