Serge Chermayeff (1900 – 1996) was initially an interior designer, then turned architect and academic. Born in Grozny, Chechnya, to a wealthy Jewish family, he came to be educated at Harrow School before his family lost all of their money during the Russian Revolution. He worked as an interior designer for Waring & Gillow until, despite having no formal training in the profession, he established his own architectural practice in 1930. After 1933 Chermayeff executed a number of commissions with the German architect Erich Mendelsohn, the best-known of which is an icon of the British International Style: the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea. For more information on Chermayeff, see: The Modern House Directory of Architects and Designers