Gerald Summers attr. trolley

A distinctive dinner trolley attributed to Gerald Summers. A trained engineer, Summers (1899–1967) soon turned his sights to the emerging production of plywood furniture. He became a highly regarded designer and was asked to furnish Hampstead’s Isokon Building, an icon of modernist thinking which counted Bauhaus leaders Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius and László Moholy-Nagy as early residents. His ‘dinner wagon’ was designed in 1934, three years after he founded his company, Makers of Simple Furniture, with wife Marjorie Butcher.

Produced in small numbers to be sold through Harrods and Heal’s, this design is now held in the V&A’s permanent collection. Its simple geometry suggests the illusion of a cantilevered upper tier, while cut out supports give greater access to the lower level. It sits low on four casters. 

In vintage condition, with light scratching and small chips along some edges. The castors appear to be midcentury replacements which is why we act with caution via the attribution. Provenance: descended straight from the original owner’s son, Southampton.

H65 L75 D45cm

K203