Robin Day (1915 - 2010)

Robin Day is an English designer. He is one of the most influential figures of the English design. He revolutionized it by favoring the technical, practical and economic approach of pieces of furniture.

He and his wife designed several pieces of furniture with a brilliant and innovative vision. During the 50s, they changed the traditional and bourgeois approach of furniture by integrating functionality. Legendary pieces were born from this new conception of design, including the Polyprop chair (1962-1963) and the Hillestack stacking chair (1950).


Biography

Robin Day was born in 1915 in England. He graduated from the Royal College of Art in London. In 1948, he founded with his wife their own design office. In 1949, he participated to the Low-Cost Furniture competition organized by the MoMa in New-York and won the first prize. In 1950, he became director of design for Hille international. His work is part of the after-war context. So, Day wanted to design economic and practical pieces of furniture which could be easily integrated in small areas. The technical research was particularly important to him as shown in the Polyprop chair, a piece designed in injection molding. Robin Day is one of the most important designers.