Gerald Summers was born in Alexandria Egypt but moved to London for college where he focused on the studies of Christianity as well as carpentry. After leaving school, Summers worked a year designing trains for the engineering firm Ruston, Proctor & Co. During World I summers joined the army. After the war he worked as a manager at Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Company in London and in the end of the 1920’s he designed his first furniture for his own residence.
In 1931 Summers established the company Makers of Simple Furniture together with his wife Marjorie Amy Butcher, while also working at Marconi’s. Two years later Summers began working exclusively as a furniture designer. Summers specialized in bent plywood made to order, and his most well-known piece is called the Bent Plywood Chair from 1933 which was shown at the Exhibition of Everyday, organized by the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1936. The Two-Tier table designed by Summers in 1934 was also one of Makers of Simple Furniture pieces, a very collectible piece of British modernism.
During the World War II, Makers of Simple Furniture had to close due to shortage of plywood. In 1943 Summers established the firm Gerald Summers Ltd in London, selling ball and roller-bearings.
The Bent Plywood chair is a part of the collections at among others, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Gerald Summers passed away in 1967 at the age of 67.
