Suitcase, moulded and sheet birch plywood, manufactured by Luterma, Estonia, sold by Venesta, Britain, manufactured about 1930

Suitcase of bent and sheet plywood, with brown leather straps, hinges and handle. The lid of the case fits snugly over the base. The straps are fastened with metal buckles. On the exterior of the case are the remains of numerous paper labels and red wax seals. Inside the case is stamped the maker's logo. The case is not lined.

Note: all leather parts are replacements.

Given by the Shand family

This suitcase was given to the V&A in 2016 by the Shand family [2016/43]. It was in the possession of the retired furniture designer and teacher Mary Shand, who is also Lady Stirling, the widow of architect Sir James Stirling. The suitcase originally belonged to Lady Stirling’s father, Philip Morton Shand (1888-1960), a leading figure in British modernism during the 1920s and 1930s. Among Shand’s many achievements in this context were his translation of Walter Gropius’s The New Architecture and the Bauhaus (1930) and his organization of the first exhibition of Alvar Aalto’s work (furniture and sculptures) in the UK (at Fortnum and Mason in 1933). Shand was also closely associated with the Architectural Review and MARS (Modern Architectural Research Group, 1933-37).

The suitcase has been extensively used; it might be called pleasingly used. It has numerous travel stickers for rail journeys and the remnants of three red wax customs seals, indicating transit through European countries. According to Mary Shand her father used the suitcase often, including on trips to the Baltic countries (including Finland and Estonia) and in 1933 when he attended the CIAM conference (Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne) in Athens (subsequently known as the Athens Charter conference). The Luther company had a UK distributor, Venesta, run from 1925 by Shand’s friend Jack Pritchard. Pritchard was the founder (with Wells Coates) of Isokon and, in 1935, the Isokon Furniture Company. Shand might have acquired the suitcase through Pritchard or on his trip to Estonia.

This suitcase is an example of a once-common plywood object type, and one that helps demonstrate the very wide range of late 19th and early 20th century object types which were made of plywood. The suitcase carries stamps for ‘Luterma’ on its interior and exterior. From 1897 Luterma was the trade name for products made by the A.M. Luther Woodworking Company for Mechanical Woodworking (founded 1877) in Tallin, Estonia. Luterma was one of, if not the, most important manufacturers of plywood and plywood products in Europe in about 1900.

This suitcase originally belonged to Morton Shand (1888-1960), a leading figure in British modernism in the 1920s and 1930s.

W.12-2016