Gerald Summers Overview

While his fellow soldiers dreamt of their girlfriends back home, a recent enlistee, Gerald Summers, fantasized about "doing things with wood." Wondering why the sudden preoccupation with this natural resource, Summers thought back. He recalled his days as a schoolboy (only... [more]

While his fellow soldiers dreamt of their girlfriends back home, a recent enlistee, Gerald Summers, fantasized about "doing things with wood." Wondering why the sudden preoccupation with this natural resource, Summers thought back. He recalled his days as a schoolboy (only about a year earlier) when he used to play hooky from class -- except carpentry. He never cut carpentry. Once free of the military, Summers headed back to London, armed now with a real calling. There he met his future wife and collaborator, Majorie Amy Butcher. His two loves (wood and Butcher) became one when the lady of the house decided to do some remodeling. Summers designed several pieces, including a dressing table and a wardrobe. Once the refurbishment was complete, the young couple stood in the bedroom, staring at Summers' originals. They thought, "Could this possibly translate into a business?" It could and it did. In 1929, Butcher and Summers inaugurated Makers of Simple Furniture and began to experiment with free-form designs and malleable materials. Summers specialized in airplane plywood, which resulted in some of the most innovative designs of the period. His signature piece, "Plywood Armchair" (1933-34), took advantage of the wood's flexibility. Bending, folding, and molding, Summers manipulated one piece of wood into a seamless seat, an ultra-smooth, Modernist masterpiece that required little material and delivered high comfort. Nonetheless, Summers' chair was only replicated 120 times because the production cost was too high and the back legs were prone to break. In 1940, Summers' dream of riding off into the sunset with his girl and a plywood chair came to an abrupt halt. War-time restrictions on natural resources led to the dissolution of Makers of Simple Furniture because the war office finally came to the very realization Summers had had years earlier: wood is a precious commodity. [show less]