GERALD SUMMERS (1899–1967)

The portfolio of furnishings created by the visionary British designer Gerald Summers, for his short-lived company Makers of Simple Furniture, is punctuated by works that expressed a resolutely inquisitive aesthetic matched only rigorous technical expertise. Cut and folded from a single sheet of birch plywood and dispensing with any extraneous fixings, the chair remains unsurpassed as an example of furniture sculpted from a single medium. Catering to an elite London-based market, and despite critical acclaim, it is acknowledged that production costs were high and that very few examples were in fact sold. Benefitting from full provenance, the present example is rare to retain the majority of its original bone-white tinted lacquer.