SERGE CHERMAYEFF (1900-1996) FOR WARING & GILLOW SIDEBOARD, CIRCA 1930 coromandel wood veneer and ebonised handles, stamped to drawer WARING & GILLOW LTD (153cm wide, 100cm high, 60.5cm deep) Footnote: Literature: Tilson B. The Modern Art Department, Waring and Gillow, 1928-1931, Decorative Arts Society Journal, no.8, pp.40-47. Note: Serge Chermayeff had a long and varied career. He was initially an interior designer but later became an architect and academic. Born in Grozny, Chechnya, he and his parents moved to England when he was young. He was educated at Peterborough Lodge Preparatory School, the Royal Drawing Society School and at Harrow, before his family lost their money during the Russian Revolution. In 1928, along with the French designer Paul Follot in the Paris branch, became director of Waring & Gillow's 'Modern Art Studio'. Together they organised an Exhibition of Modern Design from 1928-9, which gave the British public access to luxurious Paris furnishings and an introduction to the French Modern style. Chermayeff was widely travelled and "enthusiastically pro-Modern". His use of geometric, sometimes asymmetric forms and abstract decoration is illustrative of the influence of firms like Primavera in Paris and avante-garde designers like Pierre Chareau. Despite the lack of formal qualifications Chermayeff established his own architectural practice in 1930 and left Waring & Gillow in 1931. After 1933 Chermayeff executed several commissions with the German architect Erich Mendelsohn, the best-known of which is an icon of the International Style, the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea. He emigrated to the United States in 1940 where he became an academic.