Robin Day

Robin Day (1915–2010) was one of the most influential British designers of the twentieth century. He was a key figure in the postwar shift in taste that transformed British interiors in a modernist direction, specializing above all in seating for public spaces and in low-cost, “democratic design” chairs. Among these, his celebrated Polypropylene Chair (1963, produced by Hille) stands out as the first mass-produced chair with a polypropylene shell, manufactured in more than 14 million examples and becoming virtually ubiquitous throughout the United Kingdom. Throughout his career, Day often worked alongside his wife Lucienne Day (1917–2010, née Désirée Lucienne Corradi), who specialized primarily in textile design. Owing to their pivotal role in the development of British design, the two are frequently described as the “British Charles and Ray Eames.” Born in the town of High Wycombe, the heart of the British furniture-making district, Robin Day achieved his first major success by winning an international competition organized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York on the theme of low-cost furniture. His project, developed with Clive Latimer, won first prize in the “storage unit” category and, although it was never mass-produced, opened the door to a series of important public commissions, including the seating for London’s Royal Festival Hall (1951). Other iconic works for public spaces include the Gatwick Chair (1958), designed for Gatwick International Airport, and the seating for the London Underground (1990), which is still in use today. In the private sector, Day established an important partnership with the manufacturer Hille as early as the 1950s, serving as its artistic director and designing numerous modern, affordable seating solutions. Although his work fell partially into obscurity as styles evolved, it was rediscovered in the 1990s by Tom Dixon, who, as artistic director of the retail chain Habitat, reissued several of Day’s most famous designs. Today, his creations are once again in production through brands such as the British company Case Furniture and the Danish brand &Tradition.