Simple Furniture | Shaped for Purpose
July 2025
In 1931, Gerald Summers and his partner, Marjorie Butcher, opened Makers of Simple Furniture. Aptly named, the company made just that; simple furniture shaped by the needs of the modern home.
With the rationing of plywood during the Second World War, Simple Furniture closed in 1940. It was a short-lived but important episode in the story of British Modernism and we are excited to share two pieces from its legacy.
In 1934, Simple Furniture released their first brochure. Part-poem, part-manifesto, its unusually spaced text read:
"ah there you have it let's keep them functional
shaped for purpose pleasant to feel looking quiet
with guts cheerful"
Rounded, columnar legs tie the silhouettes of these two designs together, and neatly encapsulate Simple Furniture's unique expression of functionality; an economy of means with a quiet monumentality, something 'shaped for purpose' but that is crucially 'cheerful'.
Both pieces now sold