In the 1930s the surrealist artist Eileen Agar lived in a flat in Bramham Gardens, Kensington, London. Her friend Rodney Thomas, a young architect, designed the interiors of her flat and another in the same building for her lover, and later husband, Joseph Bard. This table was designed for Bard's dining room where it sat against a curved banquette in a niche. At a later date an electric socket was fitted in the centre of the linoleum table top to power a lamp. The wardrobe that Thomas designed for Eileen Agar's bedroom is also in the V&A collection. Both the wardrobe and the table were unique pieces not intended to be serially produced. Thomas's designs show an awareness of European functionalism, for example the use of linoleum, but also an empathy with the more dramatic effects associated with French Art Deco, as seen in the sculptural form of the pedestal base.