Drinks trolley designed by Zsuzsa Kozma, made in Hungary, 1938-9, walnut, chromed metal, linoleum, rubber wheels

The base of the carcase is predominantly plywood, with the inclusion of some beech. The vertical sides of the carcase appear to have been made from beech block boards. The entire carcase, except for the base, is veneered in pale walnut.

A tube of chromed steel runs in a continuous loop underneath the carcase, up the PL side, bends at a 90' angle and then extends 103 mm from the carcase, foming a handle on the PL. Four vulcanised rubber wheels are fixed to the chrome tube underneath the carcase.

A fall front drops to form a horizontal surface on which drinks were served. It is secured when open, at a 90' angle, by an aluminium straight-compass hinge. The front is released by lifting up the top/lid of the trolley. The lid opens out to the PL, and rests on the chrome handle, thus ingeniously forming another flat service on which to serve drinks. The interior surface of both fall front and lid are covered with original linoleum.

Once both the front and lid are fully open, the interior is revealed. This comprises nine square compartments, which were used for storing bottles. Six are 203 mm deep and 135 mm square, and were used for storing bottles. Three are 80 mm deep and 125 mm square. The cross sections are made of solid walnut.

The fall-front top and side-opening section both have lathe-turned walnut pull knobs. The latter one is broken.

The PR side of the piece, to a width of 145 mm, swings open to the PR. It is attached to the main carcase at the rear by chrome steel hinges. It snaps shut via a stationary bolt, formed from a domical, finished wooden peg that slots into a circular hole in the main body. The pull knob on the exterior is broken. This side section was used for storing glasses - probably shot glasses. It is divided into three horizontal sections by two shelves of solid walnut, 6 mm thick. The interior of the base section is lined with original linoleum. Each section has an aluminium rod running acrooss its width to secure glasses.

Underneath this hinged side section runs a drawer. It is veneered in walnut, its sides and base are beech and the back is poplar. The drawer has a depth of 145 mm. It pulls out to the PR.

The rubber wheels are later replacements, comparable with the originals, and ca. 1958-60, stamped FLEXELLO and MADE IN ENGLAND.

Given by Mr Peter Simor

Given to the V&A in 1997 by Peter Simor [RF 1997/1454].

This trolley was part of a drawing-room scheme designed and executed for the apartment of Eugene (Jenö) and Elizabeth Schreiber in Pasareti Üt, Budapest. The room fittings comprised a divan, chairs, this trolley, fitted cupboards and other elements which the donor, who was a boy at the time, cannot recall.

Historical significance: In style, the drinks trolley demonstrates the modernist principles of functionalism and portability. The various folding and cantilevering elements contribute an architectonic quality comparable with three-dimensional design produced at the Bauhaus and other progressive centres of the period, from which the design ultimately derives. Although the maker is not recorded, the quality of cabinet-work is very good.

The trolley is the Museum's first acquisition of Hungarian modernist furniture. It is also rare in being a product of a female designer and fully provenanced to a professional furniture maker.

Mr Schreiber, who commissioned the scheme of which this trolley formed a part, was a business man in the timber trade. His niece later became the editor of Müvészet, the Hungarian equivalent of Studio magazine. She was married to Szegi Pal, the art critic of a major Hungarian newspaper, Pesti Hirlap. They probably introduced the Schreibers to Zsuzsa Kozma. Szegi Pal also advised the Schreibers about modern art, and they amassed a collection of contemporary Hungarian art at this time.

In 1946 the Schreiber's son Peter (the present donor) left Hungary for England to go to school and the rest of the family followed later that year, changing their name to Simor. They brought some possessions, including this trolley, and other portable furniture from the drawing room although most was left behind because it was fitted. The trolley is the only extant piece of furniture from the room.

In about 1938 Eugene Schreiber, a timber merchant, commissioned a young designer, Zsuzsa Kozma, to re-design the living room of his family's flat in Budapest, Hungary. She was the daughter of an eminent Hungarian architect, designer and writer Lajoz Kozma and at this time, aged only 26, she worked in her father's office. The living room she designed for the Schreibers included a divan, chairs, this trolley and a number of fitted units. In keeping with modernist principles, what was not built-in was easily moved, ensuring the room was open and flexible. Similarly, the drinks cabinet has wheels and several sections can be folded open.

Both the Schreibers and Kozma left Hungary at the close of the Second World War. The Schriebers brought this drinks trolley with them to England, while Kozma anglicised her name to Susan Orlay and settled in Australia.

W.21-1997