Rare 'WPDW' (Wound Ply Dinner Wagon)

Designed in 1934 and likely executed the same year. Stained ash plywood, brass Provenance: Barry Friedman Ltd, New York, U.S; Sandy and Sherwin Schreier, Southfield, Michigan, U.S. Exhibited: Bent Wood and Metal Furniture 1850-1946, New York, 1987. Another example in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, under accession number W.7-2020. History: This trolley design is Summers' only documented design for the company Isokon. Isokon was founded by Jack Pritchard and Welles Coates and sold furniture by other mid-century modernist designers such as Alvar Aalto and Marcel Breuer. Jack Pritchard commissioned Summers to create a dinner wagon, however, the trolley was not a commercial success. Only very few were sold, and after a few years Isokon declined to take up the licence. The trolley was featured in the 'Bent Wood and Metal Furniture 1850 - 1946', September 1986 to October 1988, organised by The American Federation of Arts and which travelled to nine institutions around the US. Literature: Ostergard, Derek, 'Bent Wood and Metal Furniture 1850-1946', University of Washington (USA) 1987, p. 319, fig. 107 (this example illustrated). Dunn, Steve, 'Gerald Summers: Furniture for the Concrete Age', 2011, p.14-15.