Robin and Lucienne Day: Pioneers in Modern DesignHailed as the British counterparts to Charles and Ray Eames, Robin and Lucienne Day electrified the British design scene in the 1950s with their startling furniture and textile designs. Indeed, their influence over the next five decades has been so profound that their early products were recently reintroduced by Conran's Habitat. Lucienne Day pioneered the introduction of modern abstract pattern design in the textile industry. Her fabrics, which oscillate between bold geometric figures and more subtle abstract patterns, were produced by companies as diverse as Heal's and Liberty of London. Robin Day's influential furniture designs pioneered the use of materials such as plywood, steel, and plastic. His stacking polypropylene chair (right) is one of the best-selling chairs in the world. Robin and Lucienne Day, the first-ever full-length monograph on their designs, features never-before-seen archival material along with over 250 color images of the full range of their work, including furniture, ceramics, textiles, wallpaper, interiors, appliances, exhibit designs, and graphics. Spanning a half-century's creative output, no designer will fail to be awed by the genius seen in this book. |
Contents
SCHOOL COLLEGE AND TEACHING 9 Robin Day Early Life in High Wycombe 12 Lucienne Day Royal College of | 9 |
Royal College of Art 10 Lucienne Day Early Life in Croydon | 10 |
RCA Diploma Show | 12 |
Markham Square | 14 |
FLEDGLING DESIGNERS 17 Robin Day Exhibition Design and Posters | 17 |
LowCost Furniture Competition 1948 | 23 |
Dress Fabric Designs 32 THE FESTIVAL OF BRITAIN | 24 |
Hille | 33 |
Seating | 114 |
Polypropylene Chair | 118 |
Polystyrene and Polyurethane Chairs | 122 |
Storeys and Woodward Grosvenor | 124 |
Heal Fabrics | 125 |
Carpets | 130 |
Rosenthal | 132 |
Table Linen and Handkerchiefs 134 Lucienne Day Mattress Tickings and Fashion Fabrics | 134 |
Royal Festival Hall | 34 |
Homes and Gardens Pavilion at the Festival of Britain | 40 |
Calyx | 44 |
Festival of Britain | 48 |
Milan Triennale 1951 | 49 |
Cheyne Walk | 50 |
THE TRIUMPH OF CONTEMPORARY DESIGN 55 Robin Day Desks and Storage Furniture | 55 |
Seating | 58 |
Danish and American Influences | 68 |
Contract Furniture | 70 |
Heal Fabrics 1952 | 78 |
Wallpapers | 88 |
Göppinger and Rosenthal | 92 |
Thomas Somerset and Cavendish Textiles | 94 |
Heal Fabrics 19569 | 96 |
Carpets | 98 |
Heals Exhibition 1958 | 105 |
GEOMETRIC PATTERNS AND ARCHITECTURAL FORMS 109 Robin Day Foyer Seating | 109 |
Office and Restaurant Furniture | 110 |
Domestic Furniture | 112 |
BOAC | 136 |
Churchill College | 138 |
John Lewis Partnership | 140 |
LATER CAREERS 145 Robin Day Series E and Polo Chairs | 145 |
Propathene Fibreglass and | 146 |
Barbican Arts Centre | 148 |
Hille | 152 |
Stadium and Auditorium Seating | 154 |
Public Seating THE NINETIES REDISCOVERY 156 Robin Day Mines and West | 156 |
Textiles for Heal Fabrics and John Lewis Partnership | 158 |
Silk Mosaics | 160 |
John Lewis Partnership | 164 |
Royal Society of Arts | 166 |
Chapter Notes | 172 |
Robin | 174 |
Lucienne | 182 |
Bibliography | 188 |
190 | |
Acknowledgments | 192 |
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Common terms and phrases
architectural armchair Barbican Centre beech British Cabinet Maker Career in Design Catalogues Churchill College colourways created decorated Design Centre Award Designers in Britain desk Drawings Dress fabric Festival of Britain Fumiture furnishing fabric furniture geometric Glass Towel Heal's Hille Hille's Hilleplan House & Garden Illustrated in Designers industry interior John Lewis Partnership London Lucienne Day Archives Lucienne's mahogany manufactured motifs Museum Note OPG/TG/ST padded and upholstered pattem pattern number pedestal Peter Moro photograph in Lucienne plastic plywood Polypropylene Polypropylene chair printed produced Rasch rayon RD/LD Recorded in photograph rectangular RLDA RLDA/HI RLDA/TM Robin and Lucienne Robin Day Robin Day Archives Rosenthal Studio House rosewood Royal Festival Hall Sample in Whitworth Screen-printed cotton seat back Settee Shown at Rosenthal sideboard silk mosaic Square storage units Studio House exhibition stylized Tangram textiles Thomas Somerset tubular steel legs veneered Waitrose walnut Whitworth Art Gallery widths 27in