RIP Robin Day, genius of design
British furniture designer Robin Day passed away on 9 November 2010 at the grand old age of 95. He was – and will continue to be – an inspiration to many other furniture designers.
© Michael Venning / National Portrait Gallery, London
Born in High Wycombe, he graduated from the Royal College of Art in interior and furniture design. Best known for his mass-produced, injection-moulded polypropylene stacking chair, Robin and his wife Lucienne Day were pioneers of British design after World War II.
Since creating the polyprop chair in 1963, more than 20 million chairs have been produced in forty countries around the world. Wow! The chair was also adopted by every school across the UK thanks to its stackable design and cheap production, all due to the innovative use of the wonderful new materials that became widely available during the 1960s.
He was quoted as saying “Commerce is against morality. Morality is going to lose every time” and “magazines and advertising are flogging the idea that you have to keep changing things and get something new. I think that’s balls – evil. But obviously that’s your livelihood” he was never a fan of ‘fashion’ in design much like some of the greatest designers in the world, but realised that the strongest way to say this was through his timeless designs.
A retrospective of Robin and Lucienne Day’s work will appear at the Pallant House Gallery from 26 March to 26 June 2011.
Now sit back and watch this great 10-minute film: Contemporary Days: The Designs of Lucienne & Robin Day from Design Onscreen:
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