Gerald Summers, 1899-1967 | D-end Desk

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Gerald Summers (1899-1967) was at the forefront of British modern design and arguably creative thinking in the 1930s. His designs reflected exciting new materials (most famously plywood), social change and a rejection of unnecessary ornament. Practical and beautiful, his work captured the artistic zeitgeist of this pre-war period and is an important part of great 20^th century design.

At 16 years of age, Summers embarked upon an apprenticeship with the engineering firm Ruston and Proctor, which had a lasting impression as they produced moulded plywood fuselages for aircraft. From 1929 onwards, whilst working for Marconi, he also furnished his London flat with his own perfectly engineered designs. These personal pieces were conceived considering function, then material, then form – a doctrine that was to be a constant in his work. He went on to produce furniture for the fashion house Rose and Blairman, a progressive atelier founded in 1929. Early commissions such as this led to a small body of work and, in 1931, the foundation of a company by Summers and his wife Marjorie which they christened ‘Makers of Simple Furniture’. Through advertising sheets and important retailers acquiring work, he became known on both sides of the Atlantic. Collaborations with the architect Oliver Falvey Hill and Jack Pritchard, founder of Isokon, furthered his reputation and an exhibition at the RIBA in 1936 helped bring his designs to a wider audience. His work, some of which is offered here, is an exceptional legacy in the history of British and International design and reflects an early quote by Summers that ‘sight too will be satisfied’.