An exhibition of Lucienne Day’s silk mosaics opened at Margaret Howell, 34 Wigmore Street, London on 11th October. 

Lucienne Day: Silk Mosaics 1975 – 1993 is the first exhibition to focus exclusively on Lucienne’s silk mosaics since her death in 2010. Expertly curated by Simon Alderson with and on behalf of Margaret Howell, the show brings together a selection of spectacularly beautiful abstract works on loan from private collectors and institutions including the Royal College of Art, Royal Designers for Industry, and the Furniture Makers’ Company. 

 

The exhibition offers glimpses of Lucienne’s creative process. A patchwork quilt which she made in 1954 demonstrates that she was familiar with this traditional craft, while a small basket of silk pieces and paper templates illuminates the innovative silk mosaic technique which she invented in the mid-1970s. 

 

The exhibition also includes a chest of drawers for storing silk mosaic materials, which was designed and made by Robin Day in 1982 as a gift to Lucienne. 

 

Over the last six years our archivist has been developing a comprehensive digital catalogue of Lucienne’s silk mosaics, incorporating new material as owners contact us with additional images and information. We were pleased to share this as a resource for planning the exhibition, and we’re delighted to see our research brought to fruition through the creativity and dedicated hard work of all involved in mounting the show. 

 

Lucienne Day Silk Mosaics 1975 – 1993 remains open to the public at Margaret Howell, 34 Wigmore Street till 3rd November.

 

Silk Mosaics Calendar

This year's Margaret Howell calendar celebrates Lucienne Day’s silk mosaics with images of works in the exhibition. 

The images by Matt Ford Studio evoke the glowing colours and three-dimensional quality of the silk mosaics with a vividness which has never before been achieved. The calendar includes an authoritative text by design historian Lesley Jackson, with portraits of Lucienne from our digital archive. 

You can order a calendar here margarethowell.co.uk/products/calendar-2025lucienne-day-silk-mosaics

 

Silk Mosaic at Whitworth 

Lucienne Day’s Enigma silk mosaic remains on public display at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester till 24th November. 

This is a rare opportunity to see one of Lucienne’s large silk mosaics exhibited outside London. Enigma is on display in Exchanges, an exhibition in the central gallery which showcases works from Whitworth Collections. 

 

&Tradition launch in London 

The new &Tradition Robin Day reissues launched at London Design Festival in September with Robin Day exhibitions at three different venues across the capital. 

&Tradition’s showroom at Queen Anne’s Gate opened to the public during LDF 2024 with a dedicated exhibition and pieces on display throughout the space. 

&Tradition took over the window of twentytwentyone’s Upper Street shop with the exhibition Robin Day: British Modernism Returns. The new pieces may be ordered from twentytwentyone.

 

On 18th September &Tradition held a series of events at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank. Reissues of four of Robin Day’s furniture designs for the Royal Festival Hall, which opened at the 1951 Festival of Britain, were beautifully displayed in the very building for which they’d originally been commissioned. 

 

The designs were contextualised in a panel discussion moderated by Johanna Agerman Ross, Chief Curator at the Design Museum, with Foundation Chair Paula Day, &Tradition's Creative and Brand Director Els van Hoorebeeck and design writer and editor Debika Ray. 

 

The capacity audience was seated on &Tradition’s Daystak Chairs - reissues of Robin Day's first lowcost stacking chairs, which were launched in 1951 as Hillestak by British furniture company Hille. 

 

The sun-drenched space overlooking the Thames gave onto a courtyard where visitors could relax on &Tradition’s reissues of Robin’s furniture for the terraces of the Royal Festival Hall. 

 

The Robin Day pieces were complemented by Lucienne Day’s Runic and Kyoto textiles, specially produced for &Tradition’s exhibitions by our licensee Classic Textiles. Please email info@classictextiles.com for further information about these limited-edition fabrics.

 

&Tradition will present an exhibition dedicated to the life and legacy of Robin Day at their London showroom for this year’s London Design Festival.

&Tradition’s new reissues of landmark early Robin Day designs will be on display. The Daystak Collection (a side chair, table and desk), originally launched in 1951 under the name Hillestak, was Robin’s first range of low-cost designs for British furniture company Hille. The RFH Collection consists of Robin Day’s designs for the foyer, restaurant and terrace of the Royal Festival Hall, which opened at the Festival of Britain in 1951.The Robin Day designs are accompanied by reissues of three vibrant Lucienne Day fabrics.

The company’s magnificent 8-piece Robin Day range brings the pioneering early designs of Britain’s leading furniture modernist to a global audience today.

To complete the display, &Tradition will present the latest collection of designs to join their portfolio, including archive pieces from classic Danish designers Hvidt & Mølgaard and Verner Panton.

The exhibition will be open to the public free of charge at &Tradition’s showroom at 34, Queen Anne’s Gate, London from 16th – 20th September. Full details here.

Robin Day: British Modernism Returns

Design retailer twentytwentyone will host a dedicated display of the new Robin Day reissues by &Tradition as part of the UK launch at London Design Festival 2024.

twentytwentyone has a rich history of working with Robin Day designs. At the turn of the century the veteran designer created two new designs for the company, and since his death we have collaborated on reissues of several of his classic pieces. So it’s fitting that this important new collection will be showcased at twentytwentyone.

&Tradition will take over the window of twentytwentyone’s shop at 274-275 Upper Street, London to highlight the new Royal Festival Hall and Daystak collections during London Design Festival, 14th-29th September.

Robin Day film

&Tradition has launched a film about Robin Day as part of their series of documentaries.

Introduced by design historian Emanuele Quinz with contributions from Paula Day and Sam Hecht, the film was shot at the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican Centre and London Underground, and highlights Robin Day’s public seating and his commitment to ethical and sustainable design. The Robin Day film is the second in the documentary series.

Lucienne Day limited edition

The three new fabrics produced for &Tradition’s Robin Day displays are available to order direct from our licensee Classic Textiles.

Lucienne’s most famous design Calyx (1951) is available for the first time in the original colourway shown at the Festival of Britain.

Runic (1959) was inspired by Nordic runes, while Kyoto (1975), one of Lucienne’s last designs for printed textiles, may have been suggested by a visit to Japan in the early 1970s. Please email info@classictextiles.com for more information about the limited edition fabrics.

Textiles Prize at Arts University Bournemouth

Ella Nathan, BA (Hons) Textiles, is the winner of our 2024 Prize for Textiles at Arts University Bournemouth.

Iberian Impressions, Ella’s collection of printed fabrics, papers and tiles, is an interpretation of Portuguese and Spanish landscapes. She experiments with abstract shapes in a palette of warm rich colours, using hand and digital print on deadstock natural materials. As a conscious designer with a Fine Art approach to textiles, she has created bespoke pieces for high-end interiors, aiming to replicate the gestural marks and figurative elements of Bloomsbury Group painters.

Ella said:
“I am extremely honoured to have been awarded the Robin and Lucienne Day Prize for Textiles. It has been very encouraging to have my work recognised and appreciated, so I look forward to where this may take me in the future. This has been a great experience and a positive start to my career as a print designer.”

The award was adjudicated by our trustee Mary V. Mullin with Kelly Bailey and Anne-Marie Howat of Arts University Bournemouth.

Textiles Prize at NCAD, Dublin

Tiarnan O’Machair, BA Textile and Surface Design, is the winner of our 2024 Prize for Textiles at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin.

Tiarnan’s collection of constructed fashion fabrics Killery was inspired by 16th and 17th century Irish metal work, leathers and textiles such as the surprisingly sophisticated plaid and tweed of the Killery ensemble which was discovered in a bog. Rusting metals, plaster casts, matted hair, and buried fabrics were used to create 3d sketches which reinterpret their aesthetic qualities. He combines traditional techniques and experimental approaches, using unconventional materials including human hair and latex, to merge the resilience of the past with a reimagined urban sensibility, resulting in unusual weaves and knits.

Tiarnan said:
“I’m delighted to have won the prize and honoured to receive recognition from the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation. This award will be a huge help in starting me on my career path.”

The award was adjudicated by our trustee Mary V. Mullin with Andrew Campbell, Katie Hanlon and Rachel Tuffy of NCAD Dublin.

Textiles Prize at Belfast School of Art

Alma Conway, BA Hons Textile Art, Design and Fashion, is the winner of our 2024 Prize for Textiles at Belfast School of Art. Ireland.”

Alma’s collection Miscellany showcases hand- dyed and printed fabrics, honouring traditional techniques while incorporating digital tools with shibiori-inspired patterns. Multi-dimensional textures and patterns were achieved through a meticulous, process-led approach. Techniques such as devore, discharge, mono-printing, Shinto, crimping, pleating, and cross-dyeing were used to craft these fabrics for fashion.

Alma said:
“I would like to extend my thanks to the trustees for awarding me this prize. The prize will play a crucial role in facilitating the setup of my handprinting studio, enabling me to pursue my passion for textiles and to help revive the textile industry in Northern Ireland.”

The award was adjudicated by our Trustee Mary V. Mullin with Trish Belford and Professor Barbara Diss of Belfast School of Art.

Furniture Prize at Kingston School of Art

Polly Jennings, BA Hons Product and Furniture Design, is the winner of our 2024 Prize at Kingston School of Art.

Polly won the Prize for her designs Every Stool and Cast Stool. Every Stool is a wire mesh street stool designed to promote social interactions in the UK. The stackable low-cost stool has the freedom to move and live in public spaces. Cast Stool is a ceramic garden stool which utilises the techniques and materials of the sanitary ware industry.

Polly said:
“I feel extremely honoured and grateful to receive such recognition from the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation. This has confirmed my confidence in my designs as well as affirmed the achievement of creating the final outcome. It has also allowed me to plan for further progression in the furniture design industry, which is an exciting prospect!”

The Prize was adjudicated and presented by our Trustee Magnus Englund with Philip Davies, KSA Product and Furniture Design Course Leader and Associate Professor.

Furniture Prize at ATU Connemara

Pearse Summerville BSc (Hons) Furniture Design and Manufacture, is the winner of our 2024 Prize for Furniture at the Atlantic Technological University, Connemara.

Pearse’ project Melodies is a response to the brief to design Street Furniture for the Clifden Town Regeneration Project for Galway Co. Inspired by music, which flows like gentle waves that connect communities regardless of location or language, Pearse designed and made a bench with eye- catching curves and a relaxed form to promote interactions and interesting conversations amongst strangers.

Pearse said:
“I am truly honoured to receive the Prize. Having my piece recognised by the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation has been so encouraging for me to continue to pursue a career in furniture design and making.”

The Award was adjudicated by our Trustee Mary V. Mullin with Paul Leamy, Head of Department, ATU Connemara, School of Design and Creative Arts.

We are pleased to announce our new partnership with design company &Tradition.

Established in 2010, &Tradition is an international brand built on a Danish legacy of craftsmanship and design. The company strives for timeless designs born out of tradition and revolution, honouring old masters who were avant-garde in their time, and welcoming new designers creating icons of tomorrow. Robin Day now joins Arne Jacobsen, Verner Panton and others in &Tradition’s portfolio of classic designers.

This significant new partnership began when our founder Paula Day met &Tradition’s founder Martin Kornbek Hansen in London in February 2020. Talks continued by video call during lockdown and the collaboration was forged on subsequent visits between key team members in the UK and Copenhagen.

&Tradition has worked closely with us to bring back into production six of Robin’s seminal designs from 1951, the year that saw his breakthrough as one of Britain’s leading furniture designers.

&Tradition’s expertise in working with historic designs, with respect for the originals and understanding of current needs and impact test requirements, has made it possible to bring Robin Day’s iconic early designs back to life, to be enjoyed by new generations across the world today.

&Tradition event at 3 Days of Design

The new Robin Day range is launching at 3 Days of Design, Copenhagen, 12th – 14th June 2024.

On Wednesday 12th June, &Tradition is hosting Paula Day in conversation with design historian Emanuele Quinz as they discuss her father’s creative legacy and the works that established him as a significant figure of British design.

The event is taking place at the &Tradition Showroom at Kronprinsessegade 4, Copenhagen. Entry is free of charge.

&Tradition exhibition at Three Days of Design

&Tradition is presenting an exhibition in their flagship showroom at Three Days of Design dedicated to the work and life of Robin Day, the latest classic designer to join their portfolio.

Images from our archives and original 1950s furniture are on show as well as &Tradition's extensive new Robin Day collection.

The Robin Day furniture is displayed alongside Lucienne Day fabrics including Calyx, which she designed to complement her husband's furniture in his displays at the 1951 Festival of Britain and Milan Triennale. Printed for the &Tradition exhibition by our licensee Classic Textiles, this is the first time Calyx has been reproduced in the original brown colourway shown at the Festival of Britain.

The exhibition is showing at the &Tradition Showroom at Kronprinsessegade 4, Copenhagen. Entry is free of charge.

Daystak Collection

Originally produced as Hillestak, Robin’s first low- cost designs for his long-term client, British furniture company Hille, have been reissued in slightly scaled-up versions under the name ‘Daystak’.

Robin’s first stacking chair was produced in volume and widely used in lecture halls, churches and canteens as well as domestic spaces. The distinctive A-frame beech legs support an ergonomically curved backrest and seat in moulded plywood.

The new Daystak Chair is made in beech, with backrest and seat in a choice of beech or walnut veneer

The Hillestak table was also designed for stacking, with beech legs which echo those of the chair. It was produced with a timber veneer or plastic laminate top, and could be fitted with a two- drawer unit to make a desk.

The Daystak Table and Daystak Desk are made in beech with the top finished in beech or Fenix Nano laminate. The table unit is delivered as a flat pack, while the drawer unit arrives fully assembled and can be fitted on the left or right-hand side.

Royal Festival Hall Collection

Robin’s first major furniture commission was to design all the seating for London’s Royal Festival Hall, which opened at the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Robin’s furniture for the Royal Festival Hall foyers and restaurant perfectly complements the light airy spaces of the interiors, which were designed by his friend and colleague, architect Peter Moro.

The curving moulded plywood backrest of his Dining Chair for the Royal Festival Hall restaurant sprouts armrests folded outwards, and the inner and outer faces are veneered in contrasting timbers.

&Tradition has developed a fine new production of this quintessential mid-century design under the name RFH Armchair.

Robin's Lounge Chair for the Royal Festival Hall foyers, with its wing-like armrests growing organically from the curved plywood back, has acquired a legendary status in the seven decades since it was created.

Working from a very rare surviving example of the chairs actually supplied to the Royal Festival Hall in 1951, &Tradition has brought this charismatic design back into production. The RFH Lounge Chair is available in a choice of light grey or charcoal upholstery.

Robin’s chairs for the Royal Festival Hall terraces were never put into general production. We searched high and low for records or examples of the design, eventually locating a single surviving chair in Southbank Centre archives.

The original chairs had wooden slats painted white, and the tables were surfaced with hardwood veneer. In the interest of durability, &Tradition has recreated the RFH Terrace Chair in FSC teak while the RFH Terrace Tables (available in large and small sizes, like the originals) are topped in durable plastic laminate.

Lucienne Day’s Enigma silk mosaic is now on public display at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.

Lucienne designed this one-off wall hanging in 1988, at the height of her ‘second career’ in the new textile art medium she had invented. The composition is made up of twelve separate panels, each symbolising an aspect of water.

Left: Trident, Meander, Raindrops, Canal Centre: Aquarius, Ripple, Reflexion, Torrent Right: Lake, Rain, Cascade, River

Enigma is on display in Exchanges, an exhibition in the central gallery which showcases works from Whitworth Collections. It’s hung between pieces by Mitzie Cunliffe and Althea McNish in the Women in Design section.

Also on show is Torn Circle, one of the four screen-printed cotton handkerchiefs designed by Lucienne Day for ICI Dyestuffs Division in 1962. Lucienne donated these pieces from her own textile archive to the Whitworth collections.

Exchanges is open to the public (admission free) at Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester till November 2024.

Can you help us find silk mosaics?

Between the mid-1970s and the end of the century, Lucienne Day created over 180 silk mosaics, most of which were sold to private collectors worldwide. We would like to further develop our digital catalogue to include images and other records of all the works.

Do you own or know the whereabouts of a Lucienne Day silk mosaic? Our curator Wilhelmina Bunn would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact her via: enquiries@robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

You can read more about Lucienne’s silk mosaics in the V&A Museum Lucienne Day Online Collection.

International Women’s Day mural

Lucienne Day is highlighted (along with Barbara Hepworth, Laura Ashley and other women creatives associated with the John Lewis Partnership) in a promotion inspired by International Women’s Day and branded as ‘John Lewis & Sisters’.

Our archive image of Lucienne Day in 1952 features on John Lewis social media and in a temporary mural in Colquitt Street, Liverpool. Lucienne is depicted with contemporary fashion designer Yvonne Telford and make-up artist Charlotte Tllbury.

Robin and Lucienne Day acted as joint Design Consultants to the John Lewis Partnership from 1962 – 1987. Lucienne also designed a number of dress fabrics and curtain fabrics for John Lewis company Cavendish Textiles. In 1990/1991 she was commissioned to create the huge composite silk mosaics Aspects of the Sun and Islands for the John Lewis Kingston coffee shop.

Prize at Royal College of Art

We are delighted to announce that Shannon Swinburn is the winner of this year’s Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize for work in progress at the Royal College of Art, London.

Foundation Chair Paula Day reviewed shortlisted Textiles MA students’ work with RCA tutor Fiona Curran. Shannon’s project Give Me Guidance was chosen for its innovative historical research and technical experimentation.

Shannon’s project focuses on the relationship between gender, textiles and the history ofcomputing. She explores how skilled craftswomen contributed to the development of NASA’s Apollo Guidance Computer by hand-weaving Core Rope Computer Memory Modules (CRCMM). The project aims to highlight the under-recognised role of women in the emergent technologies behind the moon missions through a collection of textile samples, sound pieces and new interactive looms inspired by the original NASA CRCMM frame.

Shannon said:
"I am a great admirer of the work of Robin and Lucienne Day so having my work recognised by the Foundation and being awarded this prize is an incredible honour. This support will be absolutely invaluable in furthering my project and realising the ambitions I have for the future of my work". (Project Supported by the Haberdashers’ Scholarship).

The annual Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize at the Royal College of Art is awarded to a Textiles or Design Products MA student. Robin and Lucienne Day both studied at the RCA, where they met in March 1940. Throughout their professional lives they maintained links with the RCA. The Trustees inaugurated the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize to celebrate the Foundation’s official launch at the RCA in May 2015.

Alan Tilbury (1935 – 2023)

We are saddened by the death of furniture designer and educator Alan Tilbury, who tutored our recent Robin Day Furniture Project at Atlantic Technologicial University Connemara.

Alan graduated from the Royal College of Art, London in 1958. He set up a museum and exhibition design partnership with Robin Wade in 1969 and in 1975 established his own furniture and product design practise. He taught for twenty years in the furniture school at RCA, becoming Senior Tutor in 1985 and receiving an Honorary Fellowship in 1995. He was a member of the board of governors at London College of Furniture and was awarded five Design Guild Marks by the Furniture Makers’ Company.

Alan was a gifted and dedicated teacher. He was a visiting tutor at Letterfrack Furniture College, Ireland (now ATU Connemara) and in 2020/2021 he generously gave his time and expertise to lecture and tutor students for our Robin Day Furniture Project at the college.

Our thoughts and sympathy are with his family, friends and colleagues.

You can hear Corin Mellor and Paula Day talking about their family design legacies in the new Designers' Voice podcast. 

Son of celebrated cutlery designer David Mellor, Corin is Creative Director of David Mellor Design. Paula is the daughter of Robin and Lucienne Day and Chair of the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation. In this conversation, they explore the similarities and differences in their management of their parents' significant 20th century British design legacies.

Designers’ Voice is a series of audio conversations on design presented and produced by Alys Bryan, filmed and edited by Dan Budda. The series launched in September with designer Gitta Gschwendtner and architect Summer Islam talking about Sustainable Exhibition Design. Last month saw the release of the Design in Education episode, with Professor Becky Earley and Professor Gareth Williams.

Jet at Fashion & Textile Museum 

A dress made from Jet Planes (1947), an early Lucienne Day dress fabric, is currently on display at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London, as part of the exhibition The Fabric of Democracy.

Curated by design historian Amber Butchart, the exhibition explores printed propaganda textiles over more than two centuries. The dress is included as an example of post war textiles which celebrate revolutionary new technology. 

Lucienne Day's Jet Planes fabric for Stevenson & Co was inspired by Robin Day's poster for the 1946 exhibition Jet, which he co-designed with Peter Moro for the Ministry of Supply. 

The dress, on loan from Target Gallery may be the only surviving example of this vibrant early Lucienne Day textile design.

Interview with Fernando Gutiérrez RDI 

Our graphic designer Fernando Gutiérrez talks about his career in a fascinating Royal Designers for Industry interview with Mike Dempsey.

Born in London to Spanish parents, Fernando has worked from London, Barcelona and Madrid with leading cultural organisations including The Prado Museum, Tate Modern, the V&A and the Design Museum.

A former Pentagram partner, he established Studio Fernando Gutiérrez in 2006. Fernando has been a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale since 1997 and was made a Royal Designer for Industry in 2014. 

Election to the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry is Britain’s greatest accolade for design excellence. Robin Day was appointed RDI in 1959 and Lucienne Day in 1962. In 1987 Lucienne became the first-ever woman Master of the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry.

2023 Student Awards 

This year we made awards to textiles and furniture students at six universities across the UK and Ireland. Robin and Lucienne Day took a warm personal interest in design education, and we are proud to follow their example by offering support and encouragement to gifted young people as they set out on their design careers.

Trustee Mary V. Mullin with Eva Kerley, winner of our 2023 Prize for Textiles at NCAD, Dublin

Trustees Paula Day and Magnus Englund with Eden Bunce, winner of our 2023 Prize for Furniture at Kingston School of Art.

A Day for entertaining? 

As we approach the festive season, why not check out the authentic Robin and Lucienne Day designs produced by our licensees? By purchasing these endorsed products, you help maintain Robin and Lucienne Day’s design legacies and support our educational work.

Batterie de Cuisine tea towel

Tricorne tray

Too Many Cooks fine art print

Batterie de Cuisine miniprint

A Day for relaxing?

Chevron Armchair

Reclining Chair

Polypropylene Armchair

675 Chair

Avian Sofa

Forum Sofa

Robin Day’s Forum sofa and armchair (1964), newly reissued by Case Furniture, will be on display at Heal’s for London Design Festival.

Forum will be celebrated as one of a trio of iconic designs which have shaped taste in the last seventy years.

Heal's will also be exhibiting ten designs by this year's Kingston Product and Furniture Design graduates, including some which we Highly Recommended for our Furniture Prize. You can see the show at Heal’s Tottenham Court Road, London, 16 – 24 September.           

Metrocs brings E-Series to Japan

Japanese design retailer Metropolitan Gallery Inc. has launched a Robin Day promotion. 

The designs include their own reissue of Robin Day's Form Group (1960) and his E-Series School Chair (1971) made by British company Hille.

Having pioneered the world’s first polypropylene chair in the 1960s, Robin went on to design the E-Series chair for use in classrooms. Produced in several sizes and incorporating a hole which makes the chair light and easy to lift, Robin’s modest masterpiece continues to offer good- looking, durable, comfortable and affordable children’s seating.             

 

Student Awards 2023

This year we have made six awards at universities across the UK and Ireland. The Textile and Furniture Design BA prizewinners were of the cohort which had experienced the Covid lockdown in their first year of study, so the high quality of their Degree Show work was especially impressive.        

Textiles Prize at Arts University Bournemouth

Hannnah Lyness BA (Hons) Textiles, is the winner of our 2023 Prize for Textiles at Arts University Bournemouth.

Hannah said:
"This recognition of my work has boosted my confidence in my ability as a young designer. The prize will allow me to build and develop my portfolio of work and skills in preparation for a career in the textile industry".

Hannah’s collection Brutalist Bloom explores the connection between organic shapes and architectural structures, inspired by plants and architectural drawings at the Barbican Conservatory. She has produced a series of textile print and laser-cut constructions for interiors, focusing on humanising and softening spaces for everyday living.

The award was adjudicated by our trustee Mary V. Mullin with Ann-Marie Howat and Kelly Bailey of Arts University Bournemouth.  

 

Textiles Prize at NCAD, Dublin

Eva Kerley, BA (Hons) Textiles and Surface Design, is the winner of our 2023 Prize for Textiles at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin.

Eva said:
"My final collection holds a special place in my heart and it was an honour that it has touched others too. I am so grateful to be recognised by the Foundation and to have such a positive start to my career".        

Eva’s collection Cuimhneas/Wellbeing was inspired by the tragic history of the Irish Mother and Baby Homes. She has adapted classic weaving, knitting and natural dyeing techniques to create textiles which express caring, softness and security, and can bring comfort to victims and survivors.

Lauren Gribben was Highly Commended for her collection Forged in Nature.

The award was adjudicated by our trustee Mary V. Mullin with Rachel Tufy, Andrew Campbell and Sam Corcoran.  

 

Textiles Prize at Belfast School of Art

Kristen Robb, BA (Hons) Textile Art, Design and Fashion is the winner of our 2023 Prize for Textiles at Belfast School of Art.        

Kristen said:
"Sustainability is central to my design ethos and this award will support the development of my own brand and further studies. I aspire to honour Lucienne Day’s legacy by keeping innovation, adaptability and sustainability at the core of my design process."

Kristen’s Wildflower Homestead Collection celebrates the timeless beauty, intricacy and spendour of nature and is responsibly produced. Fine-line botanical drawings are featured, as well as mark-making using leaves, sticks and pinecones. Natural dyes and inks derived from native plants infuse the collection with the range of colours and smells provided by nature. Natural materials such as cotton and linen are printed sustainably, using natural pigments, water-based inks and digital methods.

The award was adjudicated by our trustee Mary V. Mullin with Trish Belford and Professor Barbara Dass.

 

Furniture Prize at Kingston School of Art

Eden Bunce BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design, is the winner of our 2023 Prize for Furniture at Kingston School of Art.        

Eden said:
"To be recognised by the Foundation is really encouraging and I’m looking forward to putting the award towards developing my design and the first exciting steps in my professional career".

Eden’s winning design Baileagh Chair celebrates the industrial technique of embossing beads into thin sheets of metal to create structure and rigidity. Working within the strict constraints of a Baileagh electric bead rolling machine, traditionally used to make custom car panels, Eden explored the limits and structural possibilities of applying beads to thin sheet aluminium to transform a flimsy material into an elegant structural component.

The Prize was adjudicated and presented by our trustees Paula Day and Magnus Englund with KSA Product and Furniture Design Course Leader and Associate Professor Philip Davies.

 

Furniture Prize at ATU Connemara

Neil O’Donoghue, BSc (Hons) Furniture Design and Manufacture, is the winner of our 2023 Prize for Furniture at Atlantic Technological University, Connemara.        

Neil said:
"To have my design recognised by such an acclaimed foundation is a very proud moment for me. The prize money will be used to further my research in this area and to explore further iterations of my design".

His design Podium is a set of end tables designed in response to the EU legislation in progress ‘Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation’. The three materials used - biodegradable linoleum and cotton, plus fully recyclable glass - are assembled without the use of adhesives, allowing ease of separation at the products’ end of life. Each Podium consists of two layers of linoleum placed back-to-back to form an enclosed loop. Linoleum off-cuts are a by-product of the flooring industry.

The Award was adjudicated by our trustee Mary V. Mullin with Paul Leamy, Head of Department, ATU Connemara, School of Design and Creative Arts.  

 

Prize at Royal College of Art

In February we awarded our 2023 Prize at the Royal College of Art, London to Sean McCarthy for his Design Products MA work in progress Return to Earth. Sean exhibited the finalised project at the RCA Degree Show in July.          

Sean researched the use of solid waste from biogas generators to make truly sustainable and beautiful industrial products. He explored the utilisation of plant-based materials to create products that require a minimal amount of new infrastructure and extraction whilst not taking up valuable agricultural land for specialised crops. This led to experimenting with agricultural waste, using spent solid material from anaerobic digesters to build with the compost-like fibre. The future for this project is to push what forms can be made and moulded with this material.

Sean said:
"Support from The Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation has been pivotal for my project. The Prize enabled me to travel across the UK, assessing various waste streams and collaborating with professionals to realise the new biomaterial. With the support I received, I acquired essential equipment for development, accelerating progress and ensuring the project’s viability".

You can see Sean’s work here: 2023.rca.ac.uk/students/sean-mccarthy

We are pleased to announce that Robin Day’s original Forum design has been reissued by our licensee Case Furniture.

Robin Day furnished the family’s living room at Cheyne Walk, London with two Forum sofas when they were launched in the 1960s, and chose to continue using them for nearly half a century. With this bold design, he challenged the convention of hiding a sofa’s timber frame and legs under upholstery, instead placing them on the outside to create the Forum’s handsome and unmistakable signature feature.

Case has worked closely with us to bring the original Forum design back into production, nearly 60 years after it was first launched. Original design drawings and an example of the original production were carefully studied, and a new production developed which maintains the integrity of Robin Day’s design. Attention to detail has included recreating the seat angle, slender comb joints and full width timber plank casing, while incorporating modern materials such as Dacron-wrapped foam cushions, solid walnut or oak to replace the tropical hardwood veneers used in the 1960s, and a metal-reinforced frame for strength and longevity.

The long-awaited reissue of Robin Day's Forum launched at Clerkenwell Design Festival, London on 24 May. Paula Day and our furniture technician Amos Marchant attended the launch event at Groupwork, Clerkenwell Close.

As an alternative to the classic black or brown leather, fabric upholstery options in chalk, moss or slate boucle are offered. The three-seater sofa and armchair in solid walnut or oak are available to order direct from Case.

Slat Chairs on Antiques Road Show

‘They are eminently comfortable today’. Did you see the Robin Day Slat Chairs on BBC Antiques Roadshow? You can find the clip on BBC iplayer (Antiques Roadshow 21 May, at 24 minutes).

Robin designed the Slat Chair for Hille in 1952. The name refers to the timber slats supporting the back cushion, which were left uncovered to highlight the construction.

Designers' Voice: Corin Mellor
and Paula Day

Alys Bryan has initiated the Designers’ Voice series of audio conversations with a recorded and filmed discussion between Paula Day, Chair of the Foundation, and Corin Mellor, Creative Director of David Mellor Design.

The conversation about custodianship of their parents' design legacies was held in person at the David Mellor Design Museum at Hathersage, Sheffield on 15 May. The series will launch online in September.

British cutlery designer David Mellor and his wife, biographer Fiona MacCarthy, were close friends of Robin and Lucienne Day. As well as designing, manufacturing and retailing cutlery, David Mellor designed modern street furniture and traffic lights, which are still in use on UK streets today. A student at the time of the 1951 Festival of Britain, he shared Robin and Lucienne Day’s ideals about designing for the public good. All three designers are seen here at a Royal Designers for Industry dinner in 1964 (David Mellor centre, Lucienne and Robin Day behind him).

Film screening at Isokon Gallery

Tickets are still available for the screening of Contemporary Days at Isokon Gallery, London on 13 June. The film screening will be followed by a Q&A panel discussion with Paula Day about her parents’ lives and work.

You can book here: contemporary-days-tickets

We are delighted to announce that Sean McCarthy is the winner of this year’s Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize for his Work in Progress at the Royal College of Art, London.

The Foundation’s Chair Paula Day reviewed shortlisted 2nd year Design Products MA students’ work with tutors Rob Phillips, Alex Williams and Christina Choi. Sean McCarthy’s project Return to Earth was judged to meet our awards criteria most fully in its innovative thinking and practical focus on sustainable design.

Sean is researching the use of solid waste from biogas generators to make truly sustainable and beautiful industrial products. He explored the utilisation of plant-based materials to create products that require a minimal amount of new infrastructure and extraction whilst not taking up valuable agricultural land for specialised crops. This led to experimenting with agricultural waste, using spent solid material from anaerobic digesters to build with the compost-like fibre. The future for this project is to push what forms can be made and moulded with this material.

Sean said:
“I am grateful for the opportunity the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation has provided to explore the boundaries of sustainable design. The award has helped me on the journey to navigate this challenging industry".

The annual Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize at the Royal College of Art is awarded to a final year Textiles or Design Products MA student. Robin and Lucienne Day both studied at the RCA, where they met in March 1940. Throughout their professional lives they maintained links with the RCA. The Trustees inaugurated the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize to celebrate the Foundation’s official launch at the RCA in May 2015.

Lapis reissue

Thrilling news - Lucienne Day’s 1953 textile design Lapis is back in production!

Robin and Lucienne Day used Lapis for some of the curtains in their own home at Cheyne Walk, London in the 1950s. This timelessly fresh and festive design has now been reissued by our licensee Classic Textiles.

Classic Textiles developed the digital reprints from samples of the original fabric kindly made available by Textiles Curator Amy George at Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. Great care was taken to achieve a perfect match to Lucienne’s subtle colourways.

Lapis is available to order as a digital reprint on a linen/cotton mix fabric.

Furnishing Collection

Classic Textiles’ new website showcases the company’s Lucienne Day Furnishing Collection. Dandelion Clocks (1953) in yellow and Calyx (1951) in blue are available as rotary-printed vat- dyed fabrics especially suitable for curtains or cushions.

We collaborated with Classic Textiles to launch the two new fabrics at John Lewis stores to celebrate Lucienne Day's centenary.

Dandelion Clocks and Calyx (blue colourway) curtain fabrics can now be ordered direct from Classic Textiles.

New book about pattern design

Lucienne Day’s work features in a new book about pattern design. Repeat Printed Pattern for Interiors by textile designer and educator Kate Farley has just been published by Bloomsbury. The book includes a brief survey of the history of pattern and offers a practical guide to designing repeat patterns.

Lucienne’s Calyx (1951) and Spectators (1953) are highlighted in the section on post-war pattern.

 

 

Contemporary Days at Isokon Gallery  

The Isokon Gallery, London will screen the film Contemporary Days followed by a Q&A discussion with Paula Day at 7pm on Tuesday 13th June. You can book here.

This moving and informative full-length documentary about Robin and Lucienne Day was directed by Murray Grigor and released in 2010 by US foundation Design Onscreen.

 

The Isokon Gallery is based in the Isokon building, the pioneering 1930s modernist apartment block designed by Wells Coates. The event will take place in the Gallery space where visitors can view the permanent Isokon display as well as this year’s exhibition Modernism at the Mall.

 

 

Robin Day British Rail Bench

Did you know that Robin Day’s 1956 British Rail waiting room furniture is still in use in at least one railway station today?

Robin received a Design Centre Award for this range of heavy-duty furniture, which was originally commissioned by the architect of British Rail Eastern Division and subsequently installed in stations across the country.

Hard-wearing and vandal-proof but refined in detailing, the bench and armchair were produced in two versions, one with robust makore timber slats and the other with vinyl-covered upholstery. The gap at the back of the seat avoids build-up of dirt and litter. The legs are fitted with rust-proof stainless steel collars.

This practical and elegant solution is an example of Robin’s lifelong interest in designing durable public seating to a stringent brief – work which he believed could contribute to the quality of everyone's lives.

In response to the archive images we posted on Instagram, David Walker kindly sent us pictures of a bench still in use at his local station in Dunfermline, Fife! Still looking good and working well more than sixty years after it was brought into service, this is tangible evidence of the enduring quality of Robin Day’s design.

Have you spotted an historic Robin Day design in use in a public space? We’d love to see a photo! 

Email: enquiries@robinandluciennedayfoundation.org
Instagram DM @robinlucienneday

We have collaborated with the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester to create a new range of greetings cards, postcards and mini prints.

The cards feature some of the original Lucienne Day tea towels, curtain fabrics, dress fabrics and wallpapers held in the Whitworth collections.

In 1993 Lucienne collaborated with Whitworth Textiles Curator Jennifer Harris on the landmark retrospective exhibition and accompanying book Lucienne Day: A Career in Design. She subsequently donated her own textile archive to the Whitworth.

The cards and miniprints may be purchased online from The Whitworth Shop.

 

Lucienne Day tea towels

The Whitworth Shop also stocks the authentic Lucienne Day tea towels produced by design company twentytwentyone.

In the decade from 1959 Lucienne created a series of vibrant and witty tea towel designs for Irish linen company Thomas Somerset.

In 2006 she collaborated with twentytwentyone to reissue some of these classic designs. Printed on 100% linen and beautifully presented and packaged, the tea towels are available direct from twentytwentyone and from selected retailers including shops at Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester and Isokon Gallery, London.

 

Lucienne Day Online Collection at V&A

Did you know that the Victoria and Albert Museum website carries a Lucienne Day Online Collection?

We collaborated with V&A textile curators to create this online resource, which includes highlights from the world’s greatest collection of Lucienne Day designs, along with in-depth features about her career in industrial design and her later silk mosaics.

 

Student Awards in 2022

This year we have made awards to final year students at six universities across the UK and Ireland – our largest programme to date. Trustees Mary V. Mullin, Paula Day and Magnus Englund adjudicated work and presented prizes at the Royal College of Art, London, Arts University Bournemouth, NCAD Dublin, Belfast School of Art, Kingston School of Art and ATU Connemara.

We are proud to continue Robin and Lucienne Day’s commitment to design education by offering financial support and encouragement to outstanding young textile and furniture designers at the start of their careers.

robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/awards

 

Christmas Robin?

Have you visited our website recently to check out the authentic Robin and Lucienne Day designs produced by our licensees? By purchasing these endorsed products, you help maintain Robin and Lucienne Day’s design legacies and support our educational work.

Tricorne Tray

 

Chevron Armchair

 

675 Chair

 

100 Designs poster

 

Poly Armchair

 

Reclining Chair

 

Christmas cards?

The new Lucienne Day cards are great for festive greetings!

thewhitworthshop.com

Lucienne Day’s Baldric curtain fabric (1964) in the original plum/violet colourway has now been reinstated at Churchill College, Cambridge.

In 1963 Lucienne Day was commissioned by architect Richard Sheppard to design a woven curtain fabric for public spaces in his new Cambridge University college. She responded with Baldric, a magnificent large-scale pattern which perfectly complements the architecture.

Churchill College approached us in 2013 to explore options for reinstating Baldric in some of the spaces. Our licensee Classic Textiles was eventually commissioned to develop a new printed production of the design. Working from examples of the original fabric which Lucienne had donated to the Whitworth Art Gallery collections, Classic Textiles produced the design in two of the original colourways (fuchsia/orange and grey/brown), which were hung in the college in 2019. The third colourway, in sombrely magnificent plum/violet, has now been reintroduced to some of the interiors.

Royal College of Art Prize

Bethany Voak, winner of our 2022 Prize for Work in Progress at the RCA, has now presented her final MA degree project Transformative Materials online.

She has invented a process whereby throwaway polystyrene packaging can be transformed into 'La Roque', a new material which can be moulded to make useful objects.

2022.rca.ac.uk/students/bethany-voak

Design Registrations in National Archives

Our archivist Wilhelmina Bunn has collaborated with Sarah Castagnetti, Visual Collections Team Manager at the National Archives, to identify further design registration documents relating to early Robin Day designs.

Records have been found for Hillestak Chair and Table (1951), Hilleplan Storage Units (1952), Telechair (1953), 675 Chair (1953), Q-stak Chair (1953), and Tricorne Tray (1955).

Robin Day’s 675 Chair is available today in an authentic reissue from our licensee Case Furniture, while the Tricorne Tray is available in a scaled-up version from our licensee twentytwentyone.

The Festival of Britain freestanding signage system designed by Robin Day and others was also registered by the Festival of Britain Office.

 

Historic England photos

We have now sourced digital versions of a set of slide photographs which were taken by English Heritage as a historical record of the Days' home at Cheyne Walk, Chelsea just before they moved away from London at the end of 1999. These include images of domestic interiors as well as their shared studio and Robin’s basement workshop.

After Robin Day died in 2010 we donated many of the models seen in this image to the Archive of Art and Design at the V&A Museum, London.

 

Appointment of Accountant

We have appointed James Maxwell, a partner at Haines-Watts, Central London, as accountant to the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation.

The team at Haines-Watts, Central London has a specialism in the creative sector and supports many of London’s leading architectural practises, design agencies, art galleries and artists. James works with a wide range of owner-managed businesses and charities and is passionate about helping his clients achieve their goals.

We are pleased to announce our new collaboration with Tokyo-based design company Metropolitan Gallery Inc.

Founded in 1993, Metrocs makes its own range of authentic productions of works by leading international designers.

Metrocs has launched a fine reissue of Form Group, Robin Day's ground-breaking modular seating system which received a Design Centre Award in 1961. We have worked closely with the company to ensure that the new production is true to the original design. (Please note that this product is available in Asia only).

Metrocs' website now includes a timeline of Robin Day’s design career illustrated with images from our digital archive.

 

Herb Antony at Museum of the Home

Lucienne Day’s Herb Antony curtain fabric (1956) is on display in the Style and Taste section of the new galleries at the Museum of the Home, London.

This striking piece is the highlight of the Be Modern display. The interpretative text reads: ‘Modernism was an attempt to break away from past traditions and reorganise social life, to make homes more clean, light and healthy. It focused on the belief that good design could improve society’.

Herb Antony was one of Lucienne’s most commercially successful designs for Heal Fabrics. Better known in the dark green colourway, it features quirky abstracted plant forms influenced by the paintings of Joan Miro and Paul Klee.

The Museum of the Home holds a significant collection of Lucienne Day textiles, including cushions from the Days’ own home which we donated in 2012.

 

Photoshoot at Whitworth

We have commissioned a further photoshoot of Lucienne Day pieces held at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.

The Whitworth holds one of the world’s largest collections of Lucienne Day designs. This includes Lucienne’s own textile archive, which she donated after collaborating with curator Jennifer Harris on the 1993 Whitworth exhibition Lucienne Day: A Career in Design.

The new images include wallpapers, tea towels and textiles, some of which were not available for photography when we commissioned the initial photoshoot in 2016. The addition of these images expands our extensive digital record of Lucienne Day pieces held in collections all over the world.

 

Day designs in world museums

Did you know that Robin and Lucienne Day’s work is represented in the collections of more than thirty museums and art galleries across the world?

You can see which they are on the In Museums page of our website.

 

Furniture Project at ATU Connemara

This year we have been collaborating with Atlantic Technological University Connemara (formerly Letterfrack College), Ireland, on a Robin Day Furniture Project. Final year Furniture Design and Manufacture B.Sc. (Hons) students undertook a brief to design a chair, attending a series of online lectures and one-to-one design tutorials delivered by distinguished furniture designer and educator Alan Tilbury on behalf of the Foundation.

All ten designs were exhibited at Interface Inagh, Connemara in May. Review and adjudication was carried out by our Trustee Mary V. Mullin and Alan Tilbury.

We are delighted to announce that Kevin O’Kennedy was chosen as the winner for his work in progress on a minimalist Rocking Chair in oak with cushions covered in Foxford herringbone tweed. The prize money is being used to take the design to the next stage of development.

Kevin said:
"It was an honour to have my chair design recognised as award worthy amongst such a talented group of designers. Winning the award has been the highlight of my four years in ATU Connemara and I'd like to thank the Robin & Lucienne Day Foundation for this opportunity."

 

Textiles Prize at AUB

We are delighted to announce that Niamh Wright is the winner of our 2022 Prize for Textiles at Arts University Bournemouth.

Niamh said:
"I am honoured to win this award and I plan to keep sustainability central to my design ethos moving into my career in textiles."

Niamh’s collection Fleece to Floor is inspired by the intricately detailed feathers of game birds. She has used yarn from sheep on her family’s farm, hand scouring it and collaborating with local companies to create bespoke rugs. Deadstock yarn and offcuts have also been utilised to reduce waste. Tufting, digital printing and digital jacquard weaving were among the processes used to create furnishing fabrics for luxury residential spaces.

The award was adjudicated by our Trustee Mary V. Mullin with Anne-Marie Howard and Kelly Bailey of Arts University Bournemouth.

Niamh's work is exhibited in New Designers at the Business Design Centre, Islington till 2nd July.

 

Textiles Prize at NCAD, Dublin

We are delighted to announce that Samantha Delaney is the winner of our 2022 Prize for Textiles at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin.

Samantha’s collection As Rhadarc (Out of Sight) explores Irish folklore, spirituality and the home. She has used screen print, digital print, flock, felting, embellishment and embroidery to create multi-dimensional surfaces.

Samantha said:
"Winning the Robin and Lucienne Day award is an honour as it reassures me of my work, thoughts and research that has given me confidence as a designer. This award allows me to reinvest in my work and expand my brand. I am beyond proud to have been chosen for this award and I am extremely grateful."

Our Trustee Mary V. Mullin adjudicated the award with NCAD tutor Bernie McCoy.

 

Textiles Prize at Belfast School of Art

We are delighted to announce that Sophie McCall is the winner of our 2022 Prize for Textiles at Belfast School of Art.

Sophie’s final collection for her BA Hons in Textile Art, Design and Fashion is entitled Brutalist Beauty. The collection explores the structure, shape and line of brutalist architecture, and her understanding of colour has led her to create a collection of woven textiles that will make an impact in interiors and champion the unique elements of brutalist design.

Sophie said:
"It such an honour to have my final collection recognised by the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation. Winning the textile design award 2022 is an amazing endorsement and has given me real confidence in my work."

The Prize was adjudicated by our Trustee Mary V. Mullin and Duncan Neil, Creative Director of William Clark & Sons, with advice from Trish Belford, Senior Research Fellow, and Lucy Smyth, Head of Textiles at Belfast School of Art.

 

Furniture Prize at KSA

We are delighted to announce that Eleanor Murphy BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design, is the winner of our 2022 Prize for Furniture at Kingston School of Art.

Eleanor has carried out an exploration of the swaging process, making her own swaging tools to expand metal tubing without heat. Her design Swaged Shelving Unit is an innovative modular shelving system with minimal components and no fixings. The tubular supports form junctions that allow shelving and free-standing room dividers of any height to be easily assembled and disassembled by hand, without the need for tools.

Eleanor said:
"It’s an honour to win the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize for Furniture. It was great to hear how my project aligned with the three objectives the Foundation looks for when judging. Definitely a reassuring and positive start to my career in furniture."

The Prize was adjudicated at the Kingston Degree Show by our Trustees Paula Day and Magnus Englund with advice from Associate Professor and Course Leader Philip Davies. The award was established following our collaboration with Kingston Product and Furniture Design on the 2020 Robin Day Furniture project.

Eleanor's work is exhibited in New Designers at the Business Design Centre, Islington, London from 6th - 9th July.

We are delighted to announce that Bethany Voak is the winner of this year’s Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize for her Work in Progress at the Royal College of Art, London.

Applications for the Prize were invited from 2nd year RCA Textiles MA students in financial need. The Foundation’s Chair Paula Day reviewed the submissions with Anne Toomey, Head of Textiles.

Bethany Voak’s project Transformative Materials aims to tackle the issue of waste materials through transformative design processes. Growing up on Jersey, Bethany has witnessed the increase in oceanic plastic pollution washing up on beaches. Single-use polystyrene packaging is not currently accepted by recycling facilities in the UK; Bethany has discovered a process which transforms it into a mouldable consistency which can be stretched, twisted, re-shaped and textured into any design before it dries, transforming it into a useful material.

Innovative and focused on practical solutions to environmental issues, Bethany’s beautifully presented WIP project was considered to best meet our awards criteria.

Bethany said:
"I feel incredibly honoured to have been selected as the winner of the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize 2022. I would like to thank the trustees for their support. This award will undoubtedly help me to develop my project in new ways."

The annual Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize at the Royal College of Art is awarded to a final year RCA Textiles or Design Products student. Robin and Lucienne Day both studied at the RCA, where they met in March 1940.

Throughout their professional lives they maintained links with and actively supported the RCA. The Trustees inaugurated the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize to celebrate the Foundation’s official launch at the RCA in May 2015.

Prize at Kingston School of Art

We are delighted to announce that Rory Czernuszewicz Mullins has been awarded the 2nd year prize for our Robin Day Project at Kingston School of Art.

Following the launch of our Robin Day furniture collaboration with Kingston School of Art in November 2019, Rory was among the 2nd year Product and Furniture Design students who chose to undertake a brief inspired by the work of Robin Day. He explained his concept and showed his rig presentation to our furniture technician Amos Marchant with Paula Day that December. After multiple delays caused by the pandemic, Rory has now been chosen as the winner and presented with a unique Robin Day 675 Chair with upholstery by Eley Kishimoto, a prize kindly donated by Case Furniture.

Rory’s Turnaround Chair design evolved from researching people’s seating habits (slouching, resting, leaning). The backrest/armrest support comfortable multi-directional seating for event venues as well as the domestic environment.

New book about Barbican Centre

Robin Day’s seating designs for the auditoria, foyers and terraces of the Barbican Centre, London are highlighted in a new book published to mark the 40th anniversary of the building. Building Utopia: The Barbican Centre edited by Nicholas Kenyon and published by Batsford Books features archive images, new photographs and essays by eminent architecture and culture critics.

As Seating Consultant to the Barbican Centre from 1969 to its completion in 1981, Robin designed the auditorium seating which is still in use today. He also created furniture for the foyers, including Hadrian, a bold modular seating system designed to complement the monolithic brutalist architecture.

More than two decades after the Barbican Centre opened, Robin’s Sussex Bench modular seating system (2003) was installed on the Barbican Terrace.

 

 

Day designs at Barbican Centre shop

Robin and Lucienne Day designs are on display at the Barbican Centre shop, as part of a collection accompanying the exhibition Postwar Modern: New Art in Britain 1945 – 1965.

The exhibition explores the art produced in Britain in the wake of a cataclysmic war. Certainty was gone and the aftershocks continued, but there was also hope for a better tomorrow. These conditions gave rise to an incredible richness of imagery, forms and materials in the years that followed. The exhibition features 48 artists and around 200 works of painting, sculpture, photography, collage and installation.

The shop stocks a selection of designs of the period, including Robin Day’s Tricorne Tray (1956) and Chevron Chair (1959) and Lucienne Day teatowels, all produced by our licensee twentytwentyone.

 

Day designs at Pompidou Centre shop

Lucienne Day tea towels are now offered at La Boutique du Centre Pompidou, Paris as part of their Elles font le design range, which features classics by women designers including Anni Albers, Eileen Grey, Alno Aalto and Lucienne Day.

Lucienne’s witty Too Many Cooks (1959) was reissued by London design company twentytwentyone in 2006 in collaboration with the designer herself.

 

Consuelo Gonzalez

We are saddened by the death of Consuelo Gonzalez, housekeeper to Robin and Lucienne Day.

Born in Valencia, Spain, Consuelo began working for the Days at their Cheyne Walk, London home and studio in the early 1960s and stayed with them till they moved to Chichester at the end of the century.

For nearly forty years Consuelo maintained all the interiors in the tall Chelsea house, cleaning the home and preparing lunch on weekdays and coming in to clean the design studio on Saturday mornings. The legendary ‘contemporary’ living room, which served to showcase the Days’ designs for visiting clients and press, was always beautifully presented under Consuelo’s care. A skilled seamstress, she made the curtains and carried out adaptations to Lucienne’s wardrobe.

Consuelo is mourned by Paula Day and her former colleagues at the Days’ Cheyne Walk establishment.

A new production of Robin Day’s classic Chevron Chair (1959) has been launched by London design company twentytwentyone. Great care has been taken to ensure that the new production is true to the Hille original in dimensions, details and materials (in line with our sustainability criteria, FSC certified walnut has been used instead of tropical hardwood). The Chevron Chair is available in both open-frame and armchair versions.

‘Chevron’ (meaning an inverted V-shape), refers to the angular profile of legs and seat. In this design Robin Day characteristically brought together several different materials to create a functional and visually harmonious whole:

“Metal for strength and lightness, rubber for comfort and efficiency, wood for touch and appearance” (Robin Day, 1959).

The Chevron Chair is the perfect companion piece to twentytwentyone’s reissue of the Robin Day Reclining Chair, echoing its structure and aesthetic on a more modest scale.

twentytwentyone.com

Mourne Modernity at twentytwentyone

Northern Irish company Mourne Textiles’ Creative Director Mario Sierra brought a vintage hand loom to twentytwentyone's Upper Street store for a live weaving demonstration during London Craft Week in October.

Robin Day admired the work of Gerd Hay-Edie, founder of Mourne Textiles, and in the 1950s her fabrics were often used by his client Hille to upholster his furniture designs. twentytwentyone has revived the association by offering Robin Day’s Reclining Chair, Chevron Chair and Slatted Bench cushions in a choice of historic Mourne weaves. The County Down company has recently recreated further heritage textiles: Cloughmore features on twentytwentyone’s Anniversary Edition of the Reclining Chair, and Pebble is an option for the newly-reissued Chevron Chair.

twentytwentyone.com
mournetextiles.com

Back and Forth at twentytwentyone

Vintage examples of Robin and Lucienne Day designs were displayed at twentytwentyone’s River Street showroom as part of Back and Forth, an exhibition held during London Design Festival in September. The show included over twenty-five iconic designs which have inspired directors Simon Alderson and Tony Cunningham in the twenty-five years since they founded the company.

Lucienne Day’s Little Tangram silk mosaics (c. 1980) were hung above vintage examples of Robin Day’s Reclining Chair (1952) and Royal Festival Hall Lounge Chair (1951).

Furniture Prize at KSA

We are delighted to announce that Charlotte McGowan, BA Product and Furniture Design, is the winner of our 2021 Prize for Furniture at Kingston School of Art.

Foundation Chair Paula Day with Kingston tutors Philip Davies and Jon Harrison adjudicated the award at the graduate show Upstairs for Thinking, held at SCP’s Shoreditch store during London Design Festival in September.

Charlotte was awarded the prize for Set Tee, a modular lounge chair/seating system. The hollow triangular back and seat sections nest together for space-saving, economical and sustainable transport and storage, before being linked on-site.

Charlotte said:

"I feel so honoured to win the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize, which will really help to bring some exposure to my designs, and encourage my future within the industry"

instagram.com/charmcg   pfd

Design Dialogue

Before presenting our Furniture Prize at Upstairs for Thinking, Paula Day took part in a Design Dialogue panel discussion about the future of London's design talent. The discussion was chaired by William Knight and the other panellists were Duncan Riches (SCP) and Jon Harrison (Kingston School of Art).

instagram.com/shoreditchdt

New book about Peter Moro

Peter Moro and Partners by Alistair Fair is the first book to be devoted to the career of Robin Day’s close friend and colleague Peter Moro, who was one of the architects of London’s Royal Festival Hall. The book describes his work for domestic, commercial and public buildings, including schools and theatres.

Robin Day and Peter Moro met in the 1940s when they were both teaching at the Regent Street Polytechnic. They collaborated on a number of exhibitions and Moro subsequently commissioned

Robin to design all the seating for the Royal Festival Hall (1951), Britain’s first major modern public building after World War II. Moro designed a flagship showroom in Albemarle Street, London for Robin’s client Hille (1963), while Robin designed the auditorium seating for Moro’s Nottingham Playhouse (1963).

This new book in the 20th Century Society’s architecture series includes several photographs of interiors in Moro’s own house at 20 Blackheath Park, London (1958), which he furnished with Robin Day designs such as his Reclining Chair (1952) and Chevron Chair (1959).

c20society.org.uk

New V&A galleries: Design 1900 – Now

Robin Day’s stackable Polypropylene Chair is one of two hundred and fifty objects from the museum’s collections of 20th and 21st century art and design on display in the new Design 1900 – Now galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Johanna Agerman Ross, Curator of 20th Century Furniture & Design, and her team worked through lockdown under severely restricted conditions to create the refreshed display, which finally opened in June 2021.

vam.ac.uk

Toro at new tube station

Robin Day’s Toro seating (1990) has been installed on platforms of the new Nine Elms station on the London Underground.

Robin Day believed that good design can improve the quality of everyone’s lives, and in the 1980s/90s he focused on public seating. His Toro bench for Hille was designed to a stringent brief. Fabricated entirely from metal, with a pressed steel wrapped round the cylindrical top and bottom rails and curved to support the back, it is at once hard-wearing, comfortable and visually elegant.

The Toro was originally designed for a range of applications including hospital A&E waiting rooms. It still in use on platforms throughout the London Underground, and its specification for the new Northern Line stations highlights its continuing excellence as a public seating solution.

Festive Days

Have you visited our website recently to check out the authentic Robin and Lucienne Day designs produced by our licensees? By purchasing these endorsed products, you help maintain Robin and Lucienne Day’s design legacies and support our educational work.

Here are some favourites for the festive season:

Transparent Table and Tricorne Tray

100 Designs poster

675 Chairs

Dandelion Clocks textile and Black Leaf tea towel

Polypropylene Chairs

Night and Day fine art print

Robin and Lucienne Day maintained a lifelong commitment to design education.

The image shows them in 2006, both aged around ninety, hosting Bucks New University MA Furniture students on a study tour at their home in Chichester, West Sussex.

We are dedicated to taking Robin and Lucienne Day’s educational work forward and have continued running a full student awards programme throughout the pandemic, offering encouragement and financial support to textiles and furniture design students at universities across the UK and Ireland.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/awards

Textiles Prize at AUB

We are delighted to announce that Tianna Pepe, BA Textiles is the winner of our 2021 Prize for Textiles at Arts University Bournemouth.

The entries were presented and judged online. The winner was chosen by our Trustee Mary V. Mullin with AUB Textiles Course Leader Anne Marie Howatt.

Tianna was awarded the Prize for Out and About, a collection inspired by her photographs of textures, colours and patterns found in everyday outdoor settings. The collection includes printed textiles for soft furnishings, tufted rugs and 3D jesmonite pieces.

Tianna said:
'I am so pleased and thankful to have won this prestigious prize, which will give me confidence to work hard in developing a career in print.'

www.aub.ac.uk/latest

www.instagram.com/tiannatextiles

Textiles Prize at NCAD, Dublin

We are delighted to announce that Cliona McLoughlin, BA Textiles is the winner of our 2021 Prize for Textiles at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin.

The 2021 entries were presented and judged online. The winner was chosen by our Trustee Mary V. Mullin with NCAD tutors Rachel Tuffy and Andrew Campbell.

Cliona was awarded the Prize for Into the Blues, a collection which explores the colour blue and its association with feelings of melancholy, longing and isolation. Single process prints using indigo, pigment and cyanotype methods have been used on natural fabrics such as organic cotton, hemp and silk. The collection considers the notion that in embracing the blues, we can become more resilient to deeper feelings of despair.

Cliona said:
'Having been inspired by the work of Robin and Lucienne Day since I began studying at NCAD, I am incredibly honoured to receive this prize. The funds will allow me to pursue a design course later this summer to help further my skills as I prepare to enter the textiles industry'.

www.ncad.works/graduates/cliona-mcloughlin

www.instagram.com/clionas_notebook

Textiles Prize at Belfast School of Art

We are delighted to announce that Sarah Healy, BA Textiles is the winner of our 2021 Prize for Textiles at The Belfast School of Art.

The 2021 entries were submitted and judged online. The winner was chosen by Duncan Neil, Design Director of Irish Linen company William Clark and Son Ltd, and our Trustee Mary V. Mullin.

Sarah was awarded the Prize for her collection Siscéalta, a series of quirky conversationalist prints inspired by Irish fairytales. The collection is intended for children’s fashion or interiors applications and aims to educate about Irish language and heritage.

Sarah said:
'Winning the Prize has been a great confidence boost for me. I am very proud of what I have been able to achieve and gratified that other people enjoy my work as much as I have enjoyed creating it'.

www.instagram.com/sarahhealypattern

www.bsoa21.com/student/sarah-healy

RCA prizewinner to exhibit at LDF 2021

Charlie Humble-Thomas, winner of this year’s Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize at the Royal College of Art, has presented his MA degree project Conditional Longevity on the digital discovery platform RCA2021.

www.2021.rca.ac.uk/students/charlie-humble-thomas

His work has been selected for inclusion in the RCA MA Design Products graduates’ show New Contracts, which will be exhibited at 35-36 Thurloe Place, London in the Brompton Design District during London Design Festival, 18-26 September.

www.londondesignfestival.com

Conditional Longevity asks the question, 'How long should objects last?' through the medium of umbrellas. If we hope to move towards a truly circular economy and rethink traditional consumerism, a better understanding of the consequences of the choices designers make is crucial. Each umbrella ('Recyclable', 'Repairable' and 'Durable') explores a unique take on approaching longevity, and users are presented with the impact data, downsides and benefits of each. The aim is to open up the debate on which strategies in product design are truly 'best' suited to our needs.

Charlie said:
'The experience of receiving the award was both humbling and inspiring. It was a reassurance that my work was of value. It gave me the confidence and finances to push the prototyping of the project to the next level. I was able to manufacture three fully working umbrella prototypes to a super high standard, something which gave the project credibility and presence. It also helped me realise the importance of building a support network in the industry which encourages designers from more disadvantaged backgrounds; something I hope to do later in my career too'.

Prize to be awarded at LDF 2021

This year we will be making an award to a Kingston School of Art Product & Furniture Design BA graduate. The winner will be chosen on the basis of work presented in the show Upstairs for Thinking on the first floor at SCP, 135 Curtain Road, London in the Shoreditch Design Triangle during London Design Festival, 18-26 September.

www.instagram.com/upstairs.for.thinking

This Prize is a follow-up to our very successful 2019/2020 Robin Day project collaboration with Kingston Product & Furniture Design. Students attended a Robin Day event which included a talk by Paula Day about her father’s life and design career. Over ninety undergraduates chose to undertake a brief inspired by the work of Robin Day, and their projects were co-tutored by our furniture technician Amos Marchant. The Prize was adjudicated in February 2020, just weeks before the first lockdown.

Kingston’s BA was ranked best UK Product & Furniture Design course in the Guardian University League Tables for 2020 and 2021.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/awards

This year twentytwentyone celebrates the company's 25th anniversary and namesake year. We are delighted to mark this milestone with collaborations on special Anniversary Editions of Robin Day designs.

For this year only, Robin Day’s Reclining Chair is available upholstered in an archive Mourne Textiles tweed which had been created in 1972 by founder Gerd Hay-Edie for Robin’s clients Hille but was never put into production.

In the early 1960s Robin created a one-off glass/perspex coffee table for the couple's legendary Cheyne Walk, Chelsea living room. Never before commercially produced, this design is now available in a limited edition of twenty-five pieces, each with a laser-engraved signature.

An online exhibition in twentytwentyone's Viewing Room features interviews with Paula Day and Mario Sierra, Creative Director of Mourne Textiles, together with archive images of the Days' home and an atmospheric film:

twentytwentyone.viewingrooms.com

twentytwentyone.com/collections

National Archives video

We have collaborated with UK National Archives to make a video about Robin and Lucienne Day, as part of their series celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Festival of Britain.

Paula Day talks about her parents’ designs for the Festival, using images from our own digital archive and some of the Robin Day design records held in National Archives.

The video also shows archivist Sarah Castagnetti opening up historic Registered Design records to find Robin Day’s own 1951 registrations for his seminal Royal Festival Hall chair designs.

youtube.com

V&A Archives photoshoot

In March our curator Wilhelmina Bunn and furniture technician Amos Marchant carried out a photoshoot of Robin Day technical drawings held in the V&A Museum's Archive of Art & Design. Access during lockdown was provided with special permission and generous support from V&A archivists Christopher Marsden, Alexia Kirk and team. The V&A archives are now being transferred from Blythe House, West Kensington to a new site in Stratford, East End of London.

Paula Day donated her father’s technical drawings to the V&A Museum in 2011.

Trustee appointments

We are delighted to welcome Professor Stuart Bartholomew and Magnus Englund to the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. They join Paula Day, Paul Thomas and Mary V. Mullin, who have all served since the Trust was established in 2012. Profiles of all five Trustees can be found on our website:

robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/foundation

Professor Stuart Bartholomew CBE DL

Professor Bartholomew is a graduate of universities in the UK and Canada and has had an illustrious career in art and design education. As Dean and Head of College at the University of the Arts London and subsequently as Vice Chancellor at the Arts University Bournemouth he has been instrumental in advancing specialist education in arts media, performance and design, and has achieved international recognition for the promotion of UK creative industries.

Magnus Englund

Magnus Englund is an author of books about 20th century design and architecture and a director of Isokon Gallery, London. Hailing from Sweden, he has lived in Britain since 1995 and his thirty-year career as a fashion and interiors retail entrepreneur included co-founding UK homeware and furniture chain Skandium. He has a special interest in the historic cross fertilisation between British and Scandinavian design.

We are delighted to announce that Charlie Humble-Thomas is the winner of this year’s Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize at the Royal College of Art, London.

IMAGE: CHARLIE HUMBLE-THOMAS

In February MA Design Products Senior Tutor Dr Alex Williams introduced the Foundation’s Chair Paula Day to the Work in Progress presentations of students shortlisted for the Prize.

Charlie Humble-Thomas’ project Conditional Longevity investigates the factors which influence the life expectancies of objects, including materials, manufacturing processes, and our emotional attachments to them. As part of the project, he has demonstrated a range of possible approaches to the longevity conundrum through designs for umbrellas.

IMAGE: CHARLIE HUMBLE-THOMAS

We felt that Charlie’s project best met our awards criteria, which are based on Robin and Lucienne Day’s own design practise. We were impressed by the integrity and practicality of his approach to one of the most important sustainability issues faced by any product designer today, and by the clarity and humour of his presentation.

IMAGE: CHARLIE HUMBLE-THOMAS

Charlie said:
'In March last year when things were turning upside down, I was referencing Robin Day’s work and spending hours studying the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation's website during a project evaluating the future for bioplastic furniture. To be given this award by the Foundation less than a year later is therefore a big surprise and a very special honour. It's given me a lot of optimism and ambition to push my work forward to a new level over the next few months'.

IMAGE: CHARLIE HUMBLE-THOMAS

The annual Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize is made to a final year RCA Textiles or Design Products student. Robin and Lucienne Day both studied at the RCA, where they met in March 1940. Throughout their professional lives they maintained links with and actively supported the RCA. The Trustees inaugurated the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize to celebrate the Foundation’s official launch at the RCA in May 2015. Charlie Humble-Thomas’ presentation can be seen here:

wip.rca.ac.uk

Festival of Britain 70th Anniversary

This year is the 70th anniversary of the Festival of Britain, which celebrated the country’s social, cultural and scientific progress after the gloom and austerity of World War II and its aftermath.

Robin and Lucienne Day were among the many young creatives who contributed to its success. Lucienne’s most famous textile design Calyx was first displayed at the Festival, while Robin designed signage, posters, room-sets for the Homes & Gardens Pavilion and, most importantly, all the furniture for the Royal Festival Hall, the first modern public building to be put up after the War. Both looked back on the Festival as the event which launched their design careers.

The Twentieth Century Society has marked the anniversary with The Festival of Britain 1951, a tonic to the Nation, an enlightening and entertaining online talk by Geoffrey Hollis which includes images of some of the Days’ designs. You can book to view the catch-up here:

c20society.org.uk

More images and information about Robin and Lucienne Day’s work for the Festival may be found on our website: 

robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

Festival designs in National Archives

Our curator Wilhelmina Bunn has collaborated with Sarah Castagnetti, Visual Collections Team Manager at the National Archives, to identify material in the Festival of Britain Office records relating to Robin and Lucienne Day’s designs.

PHOTO: SARAH CASTAGNETTI

We discovered that the Registered Designs files contain records (dated January 1951) of Robin Day's own registrations for his Royal Festival Hall chair designs (Orchestra Chair, Dining Chair and Lounge Chair).

PHOTO: SARAH CASTAGNETTI

As the official archive for the UK Government, the National Archives are the guardian of over 1,000 years of iconic documents. We are now working with them to create a video about historic records of these seminal Robin Day designs for the Festival of Britain.

V&A Book of Colour in Design

This new V&A Museum book includes a full-page image of a length of Lucienne Day’s 1969 design Sunrise, held in the museum’s textile collections.
Lucienne's approach to colour was boldly innovative:
'Once upon a time, orange with pink...was thought of as vulgar, and, mistakenly, they were believed to clash. In fact orange and pink (both based on red) are close together and can be the same tone, and don't clash at all' (Lucienne Day, 1967).

The V&A Book of Colour in Design edited by Tim Travis is published by Thames & Hudson Ltd, in association with the V&A Museum:

vam.ac.uk/shop

Sunrise is available as a digital reprint from Classic Textiles at Glasgow School of Art:

classictextiles.com

We are thrilled to announce that Baldric, a Lucienne Day textile design commissioned for Churchill College, Cambridge, now hangs once again in this important modern building.



Robin and Lucienne Day both designed furnishings for Churchill College. In 1963 the architect, Richard Sheppard, invited Lucienne to design a woven curtain fabric. She responded with Baldric, a magnificent large-scale pattern which perfectly complements the Brutalist architecture.

Churchill College approached us in 2013 to explore options for reinstating Baldric in some of the spaces. Our licensee Classic Textiles was eventually commissioned to develop a new printed production. Working from examples of the original fabric which had been donated by Lucienne Day to the Whitworth Art Gallery collections, Classic Textiles has produced a printed version of the design in two of the original colourways. Baldric curtains now hang once again in the Senior Combination Room and Fellows’ Dining Room, restoring the architect’s original concept.

www.chu.cam.ac.uk
www.classictextiles.com



2020 Student Awards round-up

Our student awards programme this year was the most extensive to date. We are proud to have collaborated with leading universities to provide financial support and encouragement to young designers at this difficult time.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org


Royal College of Art

Our 2020 prize-winner at the Royal College of Art was Hannah Elizabeth Jones, MA Textile Design. Her project ‘Lliw Lleol’ – Local Colour is a database of natural dyes sourced by a year’s foraging for wild plants in North Wales. The materials used are unbleached and organic, and no environmentally damaging mordants are employed.



www.2020.rca.ac.uk
www.instagram.com

Kingston School of Art

We collaborated with Kingston School of Art Product and Furniture Design department on a Robin Day Furniture Project co-tutored by our furniture technician Amos Marchant. Our 2020 prize-winner was Frank Winter, BA Product and Furniture Design (seen here 2nd from right with all students shortlisted for their work on the Robin Day design brief). His range of tables and shelving was based on the unique new joint he had invented using laser-cut aluminium tubing.

We are delighted to learn that Frank Winter went on to receive the Conran Shop Design Award 2020 for this design, while George Peirce (right) won the Gordon Russell Design Competition 2020.



www.kingston.ac.uk


Arts University Bournemouth

Our 2020 prize-winner at Arts University Bournemouth was Lydia Kretowicz, BA Textiles. Her collection Fight for Flight highlighted the beauty of British birds on the RSPB red list of conservation concern through a series of printed fabrics, wallpapers and tiles.

www.aub.ac.uk
www.instagram.com


Belfast School of Art

Our 2020 prize-winner at Belfast School of Art was Annabelle Pentland, BA Textiles. Her collection of ‘conversationalist’ printed textiles was intended to dress life less seriously. 



www.bsoa2020.com 
www.bsoa2020.com/awards


NCAD, Dublin

Our 2020 Prize for Textiles will be judged from an exhibition of work by the class of 2020, which will be held in January. The winner will be announced in our Spring Newsletter.



Christmas Days

Have you visited our website recently to check out the Robin and Lucienne Day designs produced by our licensees?

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

All products are endorsed as high-quality authentic productions of Robin or Lucienne Day’s original designs. Royalties are paid direct to the Foundation and help to fund our educational work.

Here are our favourites for the festive season:



Too Many Cooks tea towel

www.twentytwentyone.com




Polypropylene Chair

www.twentytwentyone.com




Calyx curtain fabric

www.classictextiles.com




Reclining Chair

www.twentytwentyone.com




Batterie de Cuisine fine art print

www.bookroomartpress.co.uk




675 Chair

www.casefurniture.com




Squares and Diamonds carpet

www.alternativeflooring.com




Robin Day poster

www.twentytwentyone.com




Octagon carpet

www.alternativeflooring.com




Avian seating

www.twentytwentyone.com




Magnetic textile

www.classictextiles.com




Tricorne Tray

www.twentytwentyone.com

We are delighted to announce that Lydia Kretowicz is the winner of our 2020 Prize for Textiles at Arts University Bournemouth.

The entrants’ collections were presented and judged online. Four finalists were shortlisted by members of the AUB textiles team and the winner was chosen by Textiles Course Leader Anne Marie Howatt and our Trustee Mary V. Mullin.

Lydia’s winning collection Fight for Flight was inspired by the British birds that are on the RSPB red list of conservation concern. The aim of this collection was to highlight the beauty of British birds through a series of printed fabrics, wallpapers and tiles for an interiors application.

Lydia said:
‘Being awarded the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize for Textiles is a really exciting achievement for me. After graduating, I aim to find work as a print designer with the ambition of setting up my own fabric and wallpaper brand in the future. Receiving recognition from the Foundation has given me greater confidence to consider pursuing this sooner, particularly as the coronavirus pandemic has had such an impact on the job market.’

You can see her work here:

www.aub.ac.uk



AUB top specialist design university

Arts University Bournemouth has been named as the UK’s top specialist art and design university in The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021.

Our close relationship with AUB began in 2017 with a collaboration on the exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design, which opened at The Gallery, AUB in January 2017 at the start of our Lucienne Day centenary celebrations. The exhibition, which featured images from our digital archive chronicling Lucienne Day’s life and design career, has since toured to seven other venues across the UK and Ireland. We established our annual Prize for a 3rd-year BA Textiles student to celebrate the relationship.

Our Patron, Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, is the Chancellor of Arts University Bournemouth and our Trustee Mary V. Mullin is an Honorary Fellow.

www.aub.ac.uk



Draw a Classic Chair cards

Following the success of their Draw a Classic Chair competition, twentytwentyone have produced a set of six greetings cards featuring the winning drawings.

Robin Day’s Polypropylene side chair is the subject of Mark Whitfield’s evocative sketch, while chairs by Eames and Hans Wegner are highlighted on other cards.

The cards may be ordered from twentywentyone. All proceeds will be donated to www.safaplace.org.  

www.twentytwentyone.co.uk

Over the last months, the Covid-19 crisis has affected all our lives.

In this Newsletter we celebrate the creativity and determination of the universities we collaborate with on student awards and the companies we license to produce Robin and Lucienne Day’s designs, who have risen to the challenge and developed new ways to continue their important work while under lockdown.

Royal College of Art, London

The Royal College of Art set up online teaching for their postgraduate students under lockdown in sixty countries across the world. This year’s degree show RCA2020 is a digital platform which will host over three hundred global events from 16th - 31st July. A preview webinar on 15th July included a live presentation of work by Hannah Elisabeth Jones, winner of the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize 2020.

Since she was awarded the Prize for her Textiles Work in Progress show in February, Hannah has been working under lockdown at home in North Wales.

Hannah said: 
‘I want to sincerely thank the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation for their generous award, it is a privilege to receive it and I feel very humbled. With the Foundation’s kind support, I was able to purchase the necessary materials to continue developing my work in my final term. The project is now on display in the online RCA Degree Show.

Creating an online show has been a strange but beneficial experience. I hope you enjoy it!’

Hannah Elisabeth Jones is a multidisciplinary artist-designer and researcher, specialising in biomaterials and natural dyes. While studying for her BA at Manchester School of Art, she invented a new, flexible material called 'BioMarble' (patent pending). BioMarble has a unique and intriguing surface pattern, but, most importantly, sources its main ingredient in waste paper.

As an MA student at RCA Hannah has built a natural dye database locally sourced from plants where she is based in North Wales. Lliw Lleol (‘Local Colour’) is a material timeline which maps out the seasons to show the cyclical journey of colour.

You can see Hannah's online show and watch a film of her at work here:

www.2020.rca.ac.uk
www.instagram.com

Kingston School of Art

Kingston School of Art has maintained teaching online, introduced digital assessment, and created an Online Graduate Showcase of final year work, which will launch on 29th July.

In February Frank Winter was awarded the 2020 Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Furniture Prize for his Pinch range, which he had developed as part of our collaboration with Kingston School of Art on a Robin Day Furniture Design Project. The prize money was earmarked for further development of the design to the highly professional standard demonstrated by his presentation for the Online Graduate Showcase.

You can see work by students shortlisted for the Prize here:

www.instagram.com

You will be able to see Frank's presentation in the Graduate Showcase when it launches later this summer:

www.kingston.ac.uk



Belfast School of Art

We are delighted to announce that Annabelle Pentland is the winner of our 2020 Prize for Textiles at Belfast School of Art, University of Ulster.

This summer the entrants' work was submitted and judged online. The winner was chosen by our Trustee Mary V. Mullin and Duncan Neil, Design Director of Irish linen company William Clark Ltd.

Annabelle Pentland’s designs are showcased online on Introducing Belfast School of Art Class of 2020, which celebrates this year’s graduates and their work.

Annabelle said:
'I am delighted to be the recipient of this prestigious award. During this pandemic, I have found strength through pursuing my love of printed textiles. With this prize, I will be able to take my practice to the next level and seize the opportunity to showcase my designs on a wide range of surfaces. My prints and patterns aim to dress life a little less seriously with their fun conversationalist style’.

You can see her work here:

www.bsoa2020.com
www.bsoa2020.com/awards

Twentytwentyone

Throughout lockdown twentytwentyone continued to supply online orders for its Robin and Lucienne Day design products.

The company ran an illuminating series of online Social Togetherness interviews with design partners including the Foundation’s Chair Paula Day.

www.twentytwentyone.com

Their Draw a Chair online competition attracted a wide variety of creative entries. One of the five winning entries chosen by an eminent panel of judges was Mark Whitfield’s sketch P5 Chair in 5 Seconds, which evokes Robin Day’s classic Polypropylene Chair.

www.twentytwentyone.com
www.instagram.com

Case Furniture

Under lockdown Case Furniture continued to supply online orders for Robin Day’s 675 Chair (1952) and West Street Chair (2006), in demand as comfortable and elegant desk chairs for the home office.

This image in Leslie Williamson’s book Modern Originals: At Home with Midcentury European Designers shows an early prototype of the West Street Chair in use in the Days’ living room at West Street, Chichester.

www.casefurniture.com

Robin and Lucienne Day in museums

As museums and galleries prepare to re-open, you may like to check our website Buildings and Museums page to see where collections of Robin and Lucienne Day designs are held:

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

The Victoria and Albert Museum’s website offers a Lucienne Day Online Collection, showcasing treasures from the world’s greatest collection of Lucienne Day designs:

www.vam.ac.uk

Signs of the Zodiac silk mosaics

We are grateful to Daniel O’Sullivan for sending us this image of Libra, a piece in his collection, in response to our Lucienne Day silk mosaic catalogue call-out.

Libra is one of the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac series designed by Lucienne Day in the early 1980s.

Thanks to several private collectors we have now received images of many of these, but some Signs are still missing from our digital archive set. Can you help? You can contact our curator on:

enquiries@robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

You can find out more about Lucienne Day’s silk mosaics from the V&A Museum’s Lucienne Day Online Collection:

www.vam.ac.uk

We are saddened by the death of our patron Fiona MacCarthy OBE FRSL.

Fiona was a distinguished biographer, critic and journalist. She worked as the Guardian's design correspondent in the 1960s and went on to write a succession of books on design history, including major biographies of Eric Gill, William Morris and Walter Gropius. Fiona curated exhibitions for the Crafts Council, the V&A, Sheffield Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. She was a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She was awarded the Royal Society of Arts Bicentenary Medal for services to design and in 2009 she was appointed OBE for services to literature.

Fiona and her late husband, the designer David Mellor, were close friends of Robin and Lucienne Day. Fiona opened the Lucienne Day retrospective exhibition at the Whitworth Art Gallery in 1993 and at their request wrote the Guardian obituaries which were published when they died in 2010.

Fiona spoke at the memorial evening for Robin and Lucienne Day at the RCA in 2011 and kindly agreed to be a patron of the Foundation. We greatly appreciated her presence at our launch in 2015 and her warm support for our work.

We offer sincere condolences to her family and all at David Mellor

www.theguardian.com

Robin and Lucienne Day Awards

This year is the tenth since Lucienne and Robin Day passed away in 2010.

Paula Day established the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation in 2012, with the objective of furthering public knowledge of and access to her parents’ design legacies and providing resources for the study of design. Our twin aims are to take their great design legacies forward into the future and to support the future’s great designers.

As a fitting memorial to Robin and Lucienne Day on this tenth year after their deaths, our 2020 Student Awards programme is more extensive than ever before. In the course of the year we will be collaborating with five different universities to offer financial support and encouragement to gifted young textile and furniture designers.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org



Award at Royal College of Art

Robin and Lucienne Day both studied at the Royal College of Art, London, where they met in March 1940. Throughout their professional lives they maintained links with and actively supported the RCA. The Trustees inaugurated the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize to celebrate the Foundation’s official launch at the RCA in May 2015.

We are delighted to announce that MA Textiles student Hannah Jones is the winner of the 2020 Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize for her Work in Progress ‘Lliw Lleol’ – Local Colour.

At the RCA Work in Progress show in February Hannah displayed development work for a database of natural dyes sourced by a year’s foraging for wild plants in North Wales. The materials used are unbleached and organic, and no environmentally damaging mordants are employed. Hannah intends her database to be used for educational and consultancy purposes, to influence the industrial production of textile and product design. The judges applauded the beauty and professionalism of her presentation and her project’s contribution to innovative, practical and sustainable design.

Paula Day will present the Prize at the RCA Degree Show this summer. 

www.hannahelisabethdesign.co.uk
www.rca.ac.uk

Award at Kingston Art School

Following the Robin Day event at Kingston School of Art in November 2019, ninety-two 2nd and 3rd year Product and Furniture Design BA students chose to take on the Robin Day brief.

On 13th December our Furniture Technician Amos Marchant with Paula Day reviewed initial work and provided constructive feedback to each of the forty-two students whose projects had been pre-selected by Kingston tutors. Five 2nd year and five 3rd year students were then invited to develop their designs further to submit for the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prizes.

The five shortlisted 3rd Year students made presentations to Amos Marchant and Paula Day on 11th February, showing sketches, technical drawings and renders in digital and print format, small-scale models, and full-size prototypes.

Frank Winter was awarded the 3rd Year students’ prize for his Pinch range of tables and shelving based on the unique new joint he had invented using laser-cut aluminium tubing. The judges applauded the focused development work he had carried out to produce a design which is both innovative and functional.





The prize money is earmarked to prototype the design for exhibition at the Kingston Degree Show in early summer 2020. 

Frank said: 'Robin and Lucienne Day are designers who have always inspired my own work, so it’s a privilege to have been commended by the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation. Winning the Prize will allow me to prototype the family of products to a higher standard'.

www.kingston.co.uk



Website development

We have updated our website and improved its useability as an educational resource by creating new pages which show where you can see Robin and Lucienne Day’s designs in books, on film, and in buildings, museums and archives.
 



The website is designed by Studio Fernando Gutiérrez and programmed by Studio Scasascia.

Fernando Gutiérrez works with high profile international arts organisations including The Prado Museum, Madrid and The Design Museum, London. A former Pentagram partner, he established Studio Fernando Gutiérrez in 2006. Fernando has been a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and was made a Royal Designer for Industry in 2014.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

www.fernandogutierrez.co.uk
www.scasascia.com



Silk Mosaics call-out

We are grateful to Catherine Sorensen for responding to our call-out for further information about Lucienne Day silk mosaics in the ownership of private collectors.

Catherine has kindly sent us images of her Gemini and Capricorn silk mosaics. She read about our call-out in the Lucienne Day Online Collection on the V&A Museum's website. 

Our silk mosaics cataloguing work is ongoing and we would greatly appreciate further information and images. If you can help, please contact us: enquiries@robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

www.vam.ac.uk

We are delighted to announce a new collaboration with Kingston School of Art on a Robin Day student furniture design project.

The project launched on 11th November with a Robin Day seminar for 2nd and 3rd year Product and Furniture Design BA students. Paula Day presented a talk about her father’s life and work, illustrated by images from our digital archive.

Amos Marchant, Furniture Technician to the Foundation, spoke about his experience of working on reissues of Robin Day’s designs. Acclaimed furniture designer Lucy Kurrein gave a fascinating account of her design practise.

Students were then given the brief for the project, which will be co-taught by Amos Marchant and Kingston School of Art furniture tutors Alex Hellum and Carl Clerkin. On 13th December students will present their concepts for review by the tutors with Paula Day, and shortlisted students will be invited to develop their designs to submit for the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Furniture Prize in summer 2020.

Alex Hellum and Carl Clerkin both taught in the Bucks New University Furniture Design department, formerly High Wycombe School of Art, where Robin Day trained in the 1930s. 

Kingston University is ranked as the UK’s top Design & Crafts school and the Kingston Product and Furniture Design BA is ranked as the UK’s top Product and Furniture Design course in the 2020 Guardian University League Tables.

www.kingston.ac.uk.uk
www.theguardian.com

675 Chair at Design Within Reach

Our licensee Case Furniture’s production of Robin Day’s 675 Chair (1953) is now distributed in the USA by design retail chain Design Within Reach.

Design Within Reach was founded in 1998 to make authentic productions of classic modern designs accessible to a wide market. 

www.dwr.com
www.casefurniture.com

Lucienne Day exhibition

The Arts University Bournemouth touring exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design is showing at the Willis Museum, Basingstoke, Hampshire till 11th January.

As well as chronicling Lucienne Day's life and work through a display of our digital images, the exhibition includes a spectacular array of our licensees’ reissues of her midcentury designs, demonstrating the continuing vitality of her legacy.

On show are Lucienne Day interiors fabrics digitally printed by Classic Textiles, carpets produced by Alternative Flooring and tea towels and ceramics available from twentytwentyone.

www.hampshireculture.co.uk
www.aub.ac.uk

www.classictextiles.com
www.alternativeflooring.com
www.twentytwentyone.com
www.twentytwentyone.com

Twelve Days of Christmas

First Day of Christmas

Lucienne Day Larch fabric

www.classictextiles.com

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Second Day of Christmas

Lucienne Day fine art print

www.bookroomartpress.co.uk

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Third Day of Christmas

Robin Day Tricorne Tray

www.twentytwentyone.com

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Fourth Day of Christmas

Lucienne Day Calyx fabric

www.classictextiles.com

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Fifth Day of Christmas

Robin and Lucienne Day posters

www.twentytwentyone.com

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Sixth Day of Christmas

Robin Day 675 Chair

www.casefurniture.com

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Seventh Day of Christmas

Lucienne Day carpet runner

www.alternativeflooring.com

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Eighth Day of Christmas

Lucienne Day Black Leaf tea towel

www.twentytwentyone.com

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Ninth Day of Christmas

Robin Day Childsply Chair

www.twentytwentyone.com

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Tenth Day of Christmas

Lucienne Day flower brick

www.twentytwentyone.com

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Eleventh Day of Christmas

Lucienne Day Apex fabric

www.classictextiles.com

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Twelveth Day of Christmas

Robin Day Reclining Chair

www.twentytwentyone.com

Robin Day’s 675 Armchair, designed in 1952, was the focus of the A Day to Remember charity project organised by our licensee Case Furniture.

Fifteen leading textile designers were invited to pay tribute to Robin Day’s classic design by customising Case’s endorsed reissue with their own upholstery fabrics. The fifteen unique pieces were displayed at Heal’s flagship store in Tottenham Court Road, London from 1st - 21st August and auctioned online to raise funds to support our educational work.

We are grateful to Case Furniture for initiating the project, Heal's for displaying the chairs, the designers for donating their creativity, their time and their fabrics, and all the bidders for their offers.



www.casefurniture.com
www.heals.com

www.beatricelarkin.com
www.butefabrics.com
www.charlenemullen.com
www.christopherfarrcloth.com
www.cristianzuzunaga.com
www.darkroomlondon.com
www.donnawilson.com
www.eleanorpritchard.com
www.eleykishimoto.com
www.hannahwaldron.co.uk
www.margoselby.com
www.stitchbystitch.e
www.wallacesewell.com

Fabric upholstered 675 Chair

The Day to Remember charity project heralded the launch of new upholstery options for Case Furniture's production of the Robin Day 675 Chair.

The 675 Chair is now offered upholstered in dark grey or light grey Elum wool mix fabric as well as black leather. Cream leather upholstery is also available for the chrome frame / oak-veneered backrest version. With a choice of black or chrome frame and walnut or oak backrest, a total of thirteen different options are now available for use in a variety of domestic and contract situations.

www.casefurniture.com

Lucienne Day exhibition in Basingstoke

The Arts University Bournemouth touring exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design will open at the Willis Museum and Sainsbury Gallery, Basingstoke, Hampshire on 24th September.

As well as a display of our digital images chronicling Lucienne Day’s life and work, the exhibition includes a spectacular array of current reissues of her historic designs for interiors fabrics, fashion fabrics, tea towels, ceramics and carpets, demonstrating the continuing vitality of her legacy.

A unique element in this show is the inclusion of two dresses purchased by Lucienne Day in the 1950s and donated by her to the Hampshire Costume Collection in 1999.  Never previously exhibited, these pieces provide a rare glimpse of her personal wardrobe and fashion style in the mid-1950s.

www.hampshireculture.org.uk

Prizewinners’ textile designs printed

The winners of our 2019 Awards for Textiles have had their winning textile designs printed by Irish Linen company William Clark.

The 2019 Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize for Textiles at Belfast School of Art was co-judged by our Trustee Mary Mullin and Duncan Neil, Design Director of William Clark Ltd (both seen here with winner Siobhan Kelly). Duncan Neil subsequently kindly arranged for his company to print all our 2019 prizewinners' designs.

The winners were:

Siobhan Kelly, BA Textiles
Belfast Art School, University of Ulster

Anya Paine, BA Textiles
National College of Art and Design, Dublin

Aiste Karnisauskaite, BA Textiles
Arts University Bournemouth

Brooke Wakeman, BA Textiles
Arts University Bournemouth

From 24th September the William Clark fabrics will be shown at the Willis Museum and Sainsbury Gallery, Basingstoke, Hampshire alongside the Arts University Bournemouth touring exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design.

We are grateful to William Clark Ltd for giving our prizewinners the opportunity to have their work put into industrial production, and to Hampshire Cultural Trust for placing the fabrics on public display.

www.wmclark.co.uk
www.hampshireculture.org.uk

Appointment of Business Assistant

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Yasmine Luscombe as Business Assistant to the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation.

After training and practising as a designer of printed textiles, Yasmine worked for many years as Senior Office Manager for design retail company twentytwentyone, where she held responsibility for all administrative, financial and internal accounting operations.

As our Business Assistant she will be responsible for a range of commercial and administrative tasks and will work alongside the Chair to develop our design licensing business in line with our commercial objectives and our Endorsement Policies.

June Fraser 1930 – 2019

We are saddened by the death of graphic designer June Fraser, colleague and friend of Robin and Lucienne Day.

After studying at the Royal College of Art, June worked with Design Research Unit. In 1980 she was appointed head of graphics at the John Lewis Partnership and in 1984 she joined the Design Council of Great Britain, where her responsibilities included editing Design magazine. In 1983 she was appointed the first woman president of the Chartered Society of Designers (previously SIAD).

June Fraser’s long association with Robin and Lucienne Day began in the early 1950s, when she helped them set up the British stand at the 1954 Milan Triennale. In 2001 she designed Lesley Jackson’s authoritative book Robin and Lucienne Day: Pioneers of Contemporary Design. June was one of the speakers at the memorial evening held for Robin and Lucienne Day at the Royal College of Art in November 2011.

We offer our sincere condolences to her daughter Zoe Cull and family.

www.theguardian.com
www.thetimes.co.uk

Robin and Lucienne Day’s pioneering work as Design Consultants to the John Lewis Partnership from 1962 – 1987 was highlighted in the Channel 5 programme Inside John Lewis: Profits and Problems, broadcast on 17th April.

The programme includes images from our digital archive and footage of Paula Day showing some of the 2014 John Lewis reissues of dress fabrics her mother had designed in 1954 for John Lewis company Cavendish Textiles.

Interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen emphasised the significance of their consultancy: 

‘The impact that the Days had on John Lewis can’t really be overestimated. It was the first time that Britain had that overarching sense of retail design…everything was part of an aesthetic that they had created’.

The programme may be viewed via this link:

www.my5.tv

20th Century Society film screening

The documentary film Contemporary Days: The Designs of Lucienne and Robin Day (2010) was screened in London by the Twentieth Century Society on 20th June. Magnus Englund, Director of the Isokon Gallery, and the Foundation’s Chair Paula Day took part in a panel discussion chaired by Margherita Manca.

Contemporary Days was directed by celebrated film-maker Murray Grigor for Design Onscreen, a US not-for-profit film company set up by Lucienne Day collectors Jill A. Wiltse and H. Kirk Brown III. The film includes images from our archive and interviews with design experts. Its UK premier was held at the Royal Society of Arts, London in September 2010 in the presence of Robin Day.

The Twentieth Century Society works to safeguard the heritage of architecture and design in Britain from 1914 onwards. This screening of Contemporary Days was part of the series Architecture on Film curated by Catherine Croft and Margherita Manca.

www.c20society.org.uk

Our website includes a link to a 12-minute film clip from Contemporary Days:

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

Foundation and AUB Textiles Prize

The Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation and Arts University Bournemouth Prize for Textiles was inaugurated in 2017 to celebrate our collaboration on the exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design, which launched at The Gallery, AUB in January 2017.

This year Arts University Bournemouth matched our prize money to make two bursaries available, for joint winners Brooke Wakeman and Aiste Karnisauskaite.

Brooke Wakeman said: 'Lucienne Day’s textiles and ethos have been immensely influential to me as a developing designer and I am honoured to be awarded The Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation’s prize for my final collection'.

Aiste Karnisauskaite said: 'Being awarded the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize for Textiles is a great honour and fantastic achievement for me as an emerging designer maker. Lucienne Day ...is a designer I look up to'.

The winners were presented with the prizes at the Arts University Bournemouth graduation ceremony on 20th June by Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart Bartholomew CBE.

Textiles Prize at Belfast School of Art

This year we are making a special Award at The Belfast School of Art, University of Ulster, linked with the showing of the AUB touring exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design at the F.E. McWilliam Gallery, Northern Ireland in 2018. All entrants for the Prize had visited the exhibition and made a special study of Lucienne Day’s work.The entries were judged by Duncan Neil, Design Director of William Clark Ltd, and our Trustee Mary Mullin.

The winner Siobhan Kelly wrote: ‘Thank you for the textile award. It really is such a prestigious award and I am honestly so grateful. The Foundation does such wonderful work, keeping the knowledge of Robin and Lucienne Day’s work alive’.

The prize was presented at the Ulster University Graduation Ceremony on 7th June by Patricia Belford, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Art and Design.

Images Courtesy Patricia Belford

Textiles Prize at NCAD, Dublin

This year we are also making a special Award at the National Centre for Art and Design, University College, Dublin, linked with the showing of the AUB touring exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design at Dublin Castle in 2018. This is our first international award.

Our Trustee Mary Mullin interviewed the fifteen award entrants and co-judged the Award with NCAD tutors under the direction of Departmental Head Angela O’Kelly.

The winner Anya Paine said: 'I was delighted to receive first place in the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Textile Award 2019. I had looked at Lucienne Day’s work many times as inspiration in my final year'.

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, is currently displaying a number of works by Robin and Lucienne Day from their permanent collection as part of the exhibition The Value of Good Design.

_{^{© 2019 MOMA, NEW YORK   PHOTO: JOHN WRONN}}

The exhibition includes Lucienne Day’s Spectators (1953) and Mezzanine (1958) textile designs and a rare surviving example of the original Lounge Chairs designed by Robin Day for the opening of London’s Royal Festival Hall in 1951.

^{_{© 2019 MOMA, NEW YORK   PHOTO: JONATHAN MUZIKAR}}

_{^{COURTESY PAUL A. SHUTLER}}

Also exhibited are the display panels prepared by Robin Day and Clive Latimer for their prize-winning submission to the storage section of the 1948MoMA International Low-Cost Furniture Design Competition.

The 1948 competition was one of the Good Design initiatives undertaken by MoMA from the late 1930s to 1950s. The current exhibition explores the democratising potential of design, looking at the Good Design phenomenon in an international context, with government agencies across the world embracing it as a vital tool of social and economic reconstruction and technological advancement in the wake of World War II.

_{^{© 2019 MOMA, NEW YORK PHOTO: JOHN WRONN}}

The exhibition is organized by Juliet Kinchin, Curator, and Andrew Gardner, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design. It will run till 15th June 2019.

www.moma.org

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Fitness for What Purpose?

A new book celebrating forty years of the Sir Misha Black Medal and Awards has just been published.

From 1993 to 2007 Lucienne Day served as representative of the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry on the committee of the Sir Misha Black Awards, the world’s only major awards recognising and promoting excellence in design education.

Fitness for What Purpose? is edited by our Patron Professor Sir Christopher Frayling and our Trustee Mary Mullin, Chairman of the Sir Misha Black Awards Committee. The book offers a collection of thoughtful essays by some of the world’s leading design educators.

www.product.designmcr.com

www.mishablackawards.org.uk

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Mid-Century Modern Living

Robin and Lucienne Day designs feature throughout this new book by Keith Stephenson and Mark Hampshire of interiors brand Mini Moderns.

The book includes historic photographs of Robin and Lucienne Day designs from our digital archive and images of current reissues produced by our licensees. Special ‘20th Century Design Icon’ pages are devoted to Robin Day and Lucienne Day.

Mid-Century Modern Living is published by Kyle Books and was launched at Southbank Centre shop, London on 28 March.

www.minimoderns.com

www.kylebooks.com

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Pallant House Gallery

Robin and Lucienne Day moved to Chichester in 1999 where they often visited Pallant House Gallery with its fine modern extension and one of the country’s most important collections of 20th century British Art. In 2011 the Gallery hosted the posthumous exhibition Robin and Lucienne Day: Design and the Modern Interior.

Fittingly, Pallant House Gallery has now furnished all the ground floor spaces with Robin Day designs. His 675 Chair (1952) and West Street Chair (2006), both produced by Case Furniture, provide seating in the restaurant. The café /foyer areas have recently been refurnished with further Robin Day designs including the plywood Avian Sofa and Childsply Chair, which he created for London design company twentytwentyone at the turn of the century.

www.pallant.org.uk

www.casefurniture.com

www.twentytwentyone.com

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Silk Mosaics catalogue

We are continuing to work on our Lucienne Daysilk mosaics digital catalogue.

Our Curator Wilhelmina Bunn has compiled meticulous listings of all information available tous to date. We now know that between the mid-1970s and the end of the century Lucienne Day designed at least 180 silk mosaics. Many of these were displayed and sold at nearly 30 exhibitions worldwide.

In response to the call-out we mounted in association with V&A Museum, London, a number of owners have contacted us with news and images of their silk mosaics. This photograph of Lucienne Day’s ‘Sagittarius' (one of the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac series) was taken with the kind permission of Consuelo Gonzalez.

Please let us know if you are able to help – you can contact us on:

enquiries@robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

www.vam.ac.uk

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Opening for Business Assistant

We are planning to appoint a part-time Business Assistant.

The role will involve working alongside the Chair to develop the Foundation’s design licensing business in line with the organisation’s commercial objectives and its Policies for endorsement of new productions of Robin and Lucienne Day’s designs. The appointee will be responsible for a range of general commercial and administrative tasks and will support the Chair in negotiations with new licensing partners, management of product development and product promotion. 

Applications are invited from individuals with a business background in the design industry.

For a full job description please write to us at:

enquiries@robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

More than fifty years after she created them, Lucienne Day’s 1964 carpet designs Octagon and Squares and Diamonds have won Homes and Antiques Rug Design of the Year Award 2018.

Innovative carpet company Alternative Flooring launched the Authentic Lucienne collection of carpet runners and rugs earlier this year. These high-quality reissues are woven in the Wilton Carpets factory in Wiltshire where they were originally produced in the 1960s.

The Rug Design of the Year Award is one of the annual awards established by Campaign for Wool, a charity which promotes the natural benefits of wool.

www.campaignforwool.org

www.alternativeflooring.com



Appointment of Curator

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Wilhelmina Bunn as Curator to the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation.

Wilhelmina has organised digital collections and curated exhibitions at the Royal College of Art, the BBC and The Design Council. Since 2014 she has worked with us to develop and manage our Robin and Lucienne Day digital archive, creating the database, arranging photoshoots and accessioning over 8,000 images. This year she has sourced and collated information about Lucienne Day’s silk mosaics to build a comprehensive catalogue.

As Curator Wilhelmina's role will expand to include handling press image requests and liaising with archivists and exhibition curators at our partner organisations.

Linen Biennale Northern Ireland

Our Trustee Mary Mullin spoke at the opening of the Arts University Bournemouth touring exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design at the F.E. McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge, Northern Ireland on 26th September.

The exhibition, which formed part of Linen Biennale Northern Ireland, included Lucienne Day Irish Linen tea towels reissued by twentytwentyone and a Robin Day 675 Chair made by Case Furniture with heritage linen-mix upholstery fabric woven by Northern Ireland company Mourne Textiles.

Mary Mullin also spoke at the Linen Biennale conference in Lisburn on 3rd October. In a brilliant address on the subject of Longevity of Design she explored the characteristics of enduring design from Irish prehistory to the works of Robin and Lucienne Day.

^{_{IMAGE COURTESY VALERIE WILSON}}

www.linenbiennalenorthernireland.com

www.twentytwentyone.com

www.mournetextiles.com

www.casefurniture.com



MoMA Store selects Night and Day

Lucienne Day’s classic tea towel design Night and Day (c.1962), reissued by London design company twentytwentyone, has been selected by the prestigious Design Store of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

All products offered by the Design Store have passed a stringent assessment against a number of design criteria and been evaluated by MoMA’s curatorial department. The final criterion is that the product should be an ‘Icon of Design’:

‘The buying team for MoMA Design Store embraces the same spirit of modernism upon which the Museum's architecture and design department— first of its kind anywhere in the world—was founded. Our selection starts with designers and manufacturers that were integral to the establishment of modern design, and whose iconic designs remain relevant today’. (MoMA Store website).

Four Lucienne Day textiles are held in the permanent collections of the MoMA Department of Architecture and Design.

www.store.moma.org

www.moma.org



The Art of the Tea Towel

Thirteen of Lucienne Day’s designs feature in a new book about the history of tea towel design by Marnie Fogg.

We supplied the publisher with archive images of historic tea towels produced between 1959 and 1969 by Belfast-based Irish linen company Thomas Somerset and its successor Nova Products.

The book also includes images of the four Lucienne Day tea towel reissues currently produced by London design company twentytwentyone.

www.pavilionbooks.com

www.twentytwentyone.com



Wallpaper

Lucienne Day’s wallpaper designs Provence (1951) and C-Stripe (1954) feature in a new publication by Zoe Hendon.

The book traces the history of wallpaper from the 17th century to the late 20th century, examining how social mobility and new technologies have influenced design trends.
Zoe Hendon is Head of Museum Collections at the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (MoDA), Middlesex University, which holds one of the country’s most important collections of historic wallpapers.

www.bloomsbury.com

www.mdx.ac.uk



Twelve Days of Christmas

First Day of Christmas

Robin Day Childsply Chair

www.twentytwentyone.com



Second Day of Christmas

Lucienne Day Calyx curtains

www.johnlewis.com



Third Day of Christmas

Robin Day Tricorne Tray

www.twentytwentyone.com



Fourth Day of Christmas

Lucienne Day Squares & Diamonds rug

www.alternativeflooring.com



Fifth Day of Christmas

Lucienne Day fine art print

www.bookroomartpress.co.uk



Sixth Day of Christmas

Robin Day 675 Chair

www.casefurniture.com



Seventh Day of Christmas

Robin and Lucienne Day posters

www.twentytwentyone.com

www.twentytwentyone.com



Eighth Day of Christmas

Lucienne Day Octagon rug

www.alternativeflooring.com



Ninth Day of Christmas

Robin Day Reclining Chair

www.twentytwentyone.com



Tenth Day of Christmas

Lucienne Day Too Many Cooks tea towel

www.twentytwentyone.com



Eleventh Day of Christmas

Lucienne Day Magnetic fabric

www.classictextiles.com



Twelveth Day of Christmas

Lucienne Day Triangles Flower Brick

www.twentytwentyone.com

The Arts University Bournemouth touring exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design will open at the F.E. McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge, Northern Ireland on 26th September. This is the seventh venue for this acclaimed touring exhibition, which opened at The Gallery, AUB in January 2017 as part of our Lucienne Day centenary celebrations.

The F.E. McWilliam Gallery is dedicated to the memory of sculptor Frederick Edward McWilliam, one of Ireland’s most influential and successful artists, who was born in Banbridge in 1909. Lucienne Day: Living Design will be showing there till 10th November.

www.visitarmagh.com

Linen Biennale Northern Ireland

Our Trustee Mary Mullin will speak on Longevity of Design at the Linen Biennale conference taking place in Lisburn on 3rd and 4th October.

Linen Biennale Northern Ireland celebrates the past, present and future landscape of linen through an extended arts festival, presented and hosted by multiple venues across the region.

In the late 1950s and 1960s Lucienne Day designed table linen and tea towels for Belfast-based Irish Linen company Thomas Somerset, whose director Ron Crawford believed that design was the key to reviving the fortunes of the declining Irish linen industry. Lucienne Day’s innovative designs were marketed by London-based subsidiary Fragonard.

The exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design includes Lucienne Day tea towels reissued under licence by London design company twentytwentyone. Like the originals, they are printed in Ireland on 100% Irish Linen.

www.linenbiennalenorthernireland.com

www.twentytwentyone.com

Lucienne Day exhibition in Dublin

Lucienne Day: Living Design launched at Coach House Gallery, Dublin Castle on 19th July. Our Trustee Mary Mullin and exhibition curator Professor Emma Hunt spoke and the event was attended by Professor Stuart Bartholomew CBE, Vice-Chancellor of Arts University Bournemouth.

The exhibition was widely acclaimed in the Irish national press. The Irish Times hosted a Women’s Podcast interview with Emma Hunt and Mary Mullin while on 9th August RTE Radio 1 programme Arena broadcast an interview with Paula Day.

Image Courtesy Arts University Bournemouth

www.rte.ie

Plan of Peking silk mosaic exhibited

A major Lucienne Day silk mosaic from the Plan of Peking series is on display in the exhibition The Most Real Thing which opened on 15th September at New Art Centre, Roche Court, Wiltshire.

New Art Centre is a renowned gallery and sculpture park. The Most Real Thing brings together diverse artists and makers to examine the relationship between contemporary sculpture and textiles. The title of the exhibition is taken from Anni Albers’ writings: ‘we must come down to earth from the clouds where we live in vagueness and experience the most real thing there is: material’. The exhibition is open till 4th November.

Image Courtesy Bonhams

www.sculpture.uk.com

Silk Mosaic student project

Lucienne Day’s silk mosaic Golden Tangram, which we donated to the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester in 2014, has been the subject of a student project at the Centre for Textile Conservation, Glasgow University.

Second year student Kim Tourret carried out an investigation into a treatment methodology for Golden Tangram, which bears a mark possibly caused by adhesive. We provided information about the design, construction and history of the piece in the context of Lucienne Day’s overall silk mosaic practise.

Image Copyright of the University of Glasgow

Student Placement with Foundation

This summer we ran a student placement at the Foundation’s office. Loughborough University Textile Design and Innovation BA second-year student Sarah Hampson assisted with cataloguing and conserving our collection of Lucienne Day silk mosaics and licensed reissues of Lucienne Day textile designs.

Lucienne Day carpets at Decorex

Lucienne Day carpet designs feature on the Alternative Flooring stand at Decorex International 2018, held at Syon Park, London on 16th – 19th September.

We have collaborated with Alternative Flooring on the 'Authentic Lucienne' collection, a reissue of 1964 Lucienne Day carpet designs meticulously developed from samples held in the Whitworth Art Gallery. The new carpet runners are woven in the Wilton Carpets factory where the original carpets were produced.

Decorex International showcases the best of international interior design.

www.alternativeflooring.com

www.decorex.com

Lucienne Day carpets at twentytwentyone

London design retailer twentytwentyone now stocks the new 'Authentic Lucienne' carpet runners launched earlier this year by Alternative Flooring.

Lucienne Day's Octagon in her original sea-green colourway and Squares and Diamonds in her original pink/orange are available from twentytwentyone in 1 metre and 1.6 metre lengths.

www.twentytwentyone.com

The Arts University Bournemouth touring exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design will open at Coach House Gallery, Dublin Castle, Republic of Ireland on 20th July.

The exhibition will be launched by Mary Mullin, Trustee of the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation and Honorary Fellow of Arts University Bournemouth.

Dating from 1204, Dublin Castle is one of the architectural highlights of Dublin. The exhibition will run at Coach House Gallery till 15th September 2018. This is the first international showing of this acclaimed exhibition, which opened at The Gallery, AUB in January 2017 and has toured to four other UK venues.

www.dublincastle.ie

www.aub.ac.uk

Foundation and AUB Textiles Prize

In celebration of our close relationship with Arts University Bournemouth, we have established an annual Textiles Prize for an AUB Textiles graduate.

This year’s winner was Lilli Rochford-Smith.

The standard of work was so high that the Judges decided to divide the bursary between winner Lilli Rochford-Smith, runner-up Alice Blayden and commended graduates Rosie Heron and Annabel Criddle. Alice Blayden said: ‘I was overwhelmed by pride upon my nomination for the Prize. Lucienne Day’s textiles have been an inspiration to me through university’.

The prizes were presented at the Arts University Bournemouth graduation ceremony on 29th June by Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart Bartholomew CBE.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

Silk Mosaics Catalogue

We are currently compiling a comprehensive catalogue of Lucienne Day's silk mosaics.

Our archivist Wilhelmina Baldwin has so far collected and collated documentation and images of over one hundred and twenty silk mosaic designs and is developing a digital resource to catalogue this material. Sources include publications and Lucienne Day's personal exhibition sales lists, as well as images and information supplied by the public in response to the social media call-out we mounted last year in partnership with V&A Museum, London.

We would be delighted to receive further images and information relating to Lucienne Day's silk mosaics.

Please contact us on
enquiries@robinandluciennedayfoundation.org. 

This image of her silk mosaic Whirligig 1 was kindly supplied by Margaret Hall.

www.vam.ac.uk

Lucienne Day Flower Bricks

Following the success of the Centenary Limited Edition launched by London design retailer twentytwentyone at their Day for Flowers exhibition last year, a further edition has been manufactured by Stoke-based ceramics company 1882 Ltd and is available from twentytwentyone.

Lucienne Day’s flower bricks are a contemporary take on the 18th century Delftware genre of rectangular ceramic containers for flower arrangements. The reissue is available in a choice of two sizes and two patterns.

www.twentytwentyone.com

The Museum of Modern Art, New York has acquired one of the few surviving examples of the original moulded plywood Lounge Chairs designed by Robin Day for the opening of the Royal Festival Hall, London in 1951.

In 1948 Robin Day in partnership with Clive Latimer won First Prize in the storage section of the Museum of Modern Art International Low-Cost Furniture Competition. The acquisition of the RFH Lounge Chair by the MoMA Department of Architecture and Design marks a renewed recognition of the Museum’s historic links with Robin Day.

Image Courtesy Paul A. Shutler

www.moma.org

Calyx at John Lewis

Lucienne Day’s most famous textile design Calyx is now available from John Lewis, Britain’s largest department store chain.

John Lewis now carries a substantial Lucienne Day range. The Calyx and Dandelion Clocks linen/cotton mix curtain fabrics are rotary-printed for our licensee Classic Textiles at Stead McAlpin, the Carlisle company which printed many of Lucienne Day’s textiles in the 1950s. John Lewis offers a made-to-measure curtains service.

Six cushion designs are also available. These are made up by Lancashire company Herbert Parkinson from a heavier-weight linen/cotton mix fabric digitally printed by Classic Textiles.

The range is available to order online and is stocked at selected branches of John Lewis.

www.johnlewis.com

‘Authentic Lucienne’ carpets launch

Innovative carpet company Alternative Flooring has launched an ‘Authentic Lucienne’ range of original 1964 Lucienne Day carpet designs in her own vibrant colourways.

Octagon in sea-green and Squares and Diamonds in fuchsia are available as runners or rugs and may be ordered online from Alternative Flooring. The full range will launch later this year.

www.alternativeflooring.com

You can read Paula Day’s account of the development of these authentic new productions of her mother’s carpet designs on the Alternative Flooring website:

www.alternativeflooring.com

A vivid description, photos and film of the press visit to the Wilton Carpets factory to witness the first carpet being woven may be found here:

www.martynwhitedesigns.com

Living Design at Oxfordshire Museum

The Arts University Bournemouth touring exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design was shown at Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock from 13th January to 4th March this year.

On 3rd February Jennifer Harris, former Deputy Director and Textiles Curator at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester and recipient of our award for ‘Lifetime Contribution to Lucienne Day Studies’ gave a talk to a capacity audience at the Museum.

www.aub.ac.uk

Living Design at New Brewery Arts

The Arts University Bournemouth touring exhibition opened at New Brewery Arts, Cirencester, Gloucestershire on 17th March, where it is providing the inspiration for a series of textiles workshops and other events. Details may be found on the New Brewery Arts website.

Lucienne Day: Living Design celebrates the continuing vitality of Lucienne Day’s design legacy in a sequence of photographs from our digital archive and a display of Classic Textiles’ digital reprints of twelve of her historic designs.

Later this year the exhibition will tour to the Coach House Gallery, Dublin Castle, Republic of Ireland and the FE McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge, County Down, Northern Ireland.

Image Courtesy New Brewery Arts

www.newbreweryarts.org.uk

www.aub.ac.uk

www.classictextiles.com

Trustee Mary Mullin honoured by RSA

Our Trustee Mary Mullin has been awarded the Royal Society of Arts Bicentenary Medal in recognition of her 'advocacy, encouragement and promotion of design to benefit society across education and industry'. The Medal was presented by Professor Sir Christopher Frayling at a ceremony held at RSA House, London on 30th November 2017. 

Mary Mullin is Chairman of the Sir Misha Black Awards for Distinguished Services to Design Education, an organisation based at the Royal College of Art, London, which has a global focus on influential design teaching.

As a Trustee of the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation from its inception in 2012, Mary has made an outstanding contribution to our work, particularly in the area of student Awards and other educational initiatives.

www.thersa.org

www.mishablackawards.org.uk

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

Website updates

We have updated our website to include new Licensees, new Lives & Designs images and new Subscribe and Contact pages.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

We are delighted to announce our new collaboration with The Alternative Flooring Company Ltd, sister company to Wilton Carpets, to bring Lucienne Day's 1964 carpet designs for Wilton Royal back into production.

As a fitting climax to the centenary year, on December 1st Paula Day and national press witnessed the historic moment when a new production of Lucienne Day's design 'Squares and Diamonds' rolled off an original1960s loom at the Wilton Carpets factory in Wilton, Wiltshire, where it had first been manufactured.

The party then visited the Artist's House at New Art Centre, Salisbury, to view a runner of Lucienne Day's design 'Octagon' on display alongside a Barbara Hepworth sculpture and Robyn Denny paintings of the same era.

We have worked closely with Alternative Flooring in a meticulous process of product development and colour matching, using design artwork discovered in the archives of Wilton Carpets and original carpet samples held at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. The full 'Authentic Lucienne' range will launch in 2018.

www.alternativeflooring.com

Curtain fabrics at John Lewis

Following the success of the Lucienne Day Centenary cushions collection, a new fabrics range is launching at John Lewis. Dandelion Clocks and Calyx in blue are available by the metre in a lightweight linen/cotton mix, especially suitable for curtaining. The fabrics are stocked at selected branches of John Lewis and a made-to-measure curtain service is available.

Rotary-printed for our licensee Classic Textiles at the Stead McAlpin factory in Carlisle, where many of Lucienne Day's 1950s designs were originally printed, this new range celebrates a great tradition of British design and manufacturing.

Centenary celebration pen

Salts Mill design retailer The Home has launched a limited-edition Lucienne Day centenary celebration pen, designed by Ruth Hudson-Silver and produced by Acme.

The pen is available to order online or may be purchased at The Home, where the owners’ fine collection of Lucienne Day ceramics will remain on display over the Christmas period.

www.thehomeonline.co.uk

Talk at Fashion & Textile Museum

On September 7th Paula Day presented an illustrated talk to an enthusiastic and knowledgeable capacity audience at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London. She focused on her mother’s little-known designs for dress fabrics and her personal fashion style, before going on to describe highlights of the Lucienne Day centenary year.

Design Manchester

The Arts University Bournemouth touring exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design opened at Manchester School of Art in October as part of Design Manchester. Classic Textiles’ digital reprints of Lucienne Day’s historic designs were hung on the tall walls of the Vertical Gallery, Benzie Building.

A panel discussion chaired by exhibition curator Emma Hunt with panel members Jennifer Harris and Paula Day took place on October 18th and was attended by a lively audience of design professionals and students.

www.classictextiles.com

www.art.mmu.ac.uk

www.designmcr.com

2018 exhibition tour

The Arts University Bournemouth exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design will continue to tour throughout 2018, opening at The Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock on January 13th. Other venues confirmed so far include New Brewery Arts, Cirencester, Gloucestershire and FE McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge, Co.Down.

www.aub.ac.uk

V&A Director's Circle event

On December 5th a Lucienne Day evening was held for the Director's Circle of the Victoria and Albert Museum at the textile archives in Clothworkers' Centre, Blythe House, London. Paula Day presented an illustrated talk about her mother's life and work. Archivist Christopher Marsden and Textile Curator Victoria Bradley then introduced a display of Lucienne Day's original artwork and textiles.

The V&A Museum holds the world's largest Lucienne Day collection, including her paper archives. The V&A website currently carries a Lucienne Day Online Collection, with articles about her industrial design career and her later work in silk mosaics.

www.vam.ac.uk

Silk Mosaics campaign

As a result of our collaboration with the V&A social media team to trace 'lost' Lucienne Day silk mosaics, we have received news and images of a number of pieces. We are grateful to all who spread the word or made contact with us, helping to expand our records of these unique works of art.

This image of her silk mosaic 'The Boathouse' was kindly supplied by Heather Freeman. 

www.vam.ac.uk

Lucienne Day Centenary round-up

As the Lucienne Day centenary year comes to a close we look back on a highly successful programme of exhibitions, events, awards and product launches. We have collaborated with more than twenty organisations nationwide to celebrate Lucienne Day’s long career and her multi-faceted design output. Many initiatives launched this year will be ongoing, with new fabrics and carpets ranges in production and the exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design continuing on tour throughout 2018.

We would like to thank these organisations for joining us to celebrate Lucienne Day’s centenary:

Alternative Flooring
Alys Bryan
Arts University Bournemouth
Bowes Museum
Classic Textiles
Design Manchester
Design Museum
1882 Ltd
Farfield Mill
Fashion and Textile Museum
Glasgow School of Art
The Home, Salts Mill
John Lewis Partnership
John Lewis Partnership Heritage Centre
Manchester School of Art
Museum of Carpet
Pallant House Gallery
Persephone Books
Royal Designers for Industry
Royal Society of Arts
School of Textiles
Textile Society
Twentytwentyone
Victoria and Albert Museum
Whitworth Art Gallery
Wilton Carpets

Finally, we are grateful to our PR consultants at Caro Communications and our graphic designers at Studio Fernando Gutiérrez for their dedicated professional input to the Lucienne Day Centenary project.

Our Lucienne Day 100 webpage News section, documenting the full story of the centenary year, will stay live online till January 5th 2018. 

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

Q-Stak exhibited at V&A

A Robin Day Q-Stak chair donated to the V&A Museum by the designer himself was displayed in the exhibition Plywood: Material of the Modern World held at the Museum this autumn.  

Robin Day designed the Q-Stak Chair in 1953 for British furniture company Hille to provide light, durable and low-cost seating for contract use. Made from a single piece of moulded plywood mounted on a steel frame, it was far cheaper and easier to manufacture than its predecessor, the Hillestak.

www.vam.ac.uk

Hillestak at Ditching Museum

Three Robin Day Hillestak chairs on loan from our furniture technician Amos Marchant form part of the exhibiition New Truth to Materials: Wood which opened at the Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft, East Sussex this autumn.

The exhibition explores our emotional response to wood through the work of a diverse group of designers, artists and craftspeople. It remains open till 1 January 2018.

www.ditchlingmuseumartcraft.org.uk

Slatted Bench reissue

Robin Day’s elegant and functional Slatted Bench was launched in an authentic new production by London design retailer twentytwentyone at the London Design Festival in September.

Flat cushions, modelled on those shown in our archive photographs of the Slatted Bench, are also available, with covers in Mourne Check, a heritage weave designed by Gerd Hay-Edie and widely used by Hille in the 1950s to upholster Robin Day’s furniture.

www.twentytwentyone.com

Barbican shop

Over the Christmas and New Year period the shop at the Barbican Arts Centre is hosting a display of Robin and Lucienne Day design products supplied by south London design retailer Britain Can Make It.

As Seating Design Consultant to the Barbican Arts Centre, Robin Day designed all the original seating for the foyers, restaurants and seven auditoria, the latter still in use today. The major retrospective exhibition Robin and Lucienne Day: Pioneers of Contemporary Design, curated by Lesley Jackson, was held at the Barbican Art Gallery in 2001.

www.shop.barbican.org.uk

Christmas Day?

Lucienne Day cushion

www.johnlewis.com

Robin Day Childsply chair

www.twentytwentyone.com

Lucienne Day tea towel

www.twentytwentyone.com

Robin Day Tricorne tray

www.twentytwentyone.com

Lucienne Day carpet

www.alternativeflooring.com

200 Robin and Lucienne Day designs

Both centenary posters and lots of other Day designs are available from:

twentytwentyone (North London)
www.twentytwentyone.com

Britain Can Make It (South London)
www.britaincanmakeit.com

The Home (Bradford)
www.thehomeonline.co.uk

The programme has gathered new momentum over the summer, as more partner organisations, including the V&A Museum, Fashion and Textile Museum, Royal Society of Arts, Glasgow School of Art, Manchester School of Art, Design Manchester and The Home, Salts Mill have joined us to celebrate Lucienne Day’s centenary.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/LD100

V&A Museum Online Collection

We have collaborated with the Victoria and Albert Museum’s textile curators to create a Lucienne Day Online Collection on the V&A website. This includes an introductory article about Lucienne Day’s industrial design career with images of her textiles, wallpapers and ceramics. A second article discusses her later work in silk mosaics, with images from a new photoshoot of the seven pieces held in V&A Collections.

The V&A holds the world’s greatest Lucienne Day archive of over three hundred objects, as well as her design papers and photographs.

www.vam.ac.uk

#LucienneDay #silkmosaic

In association with the V&A Museum, we have launched a social media campaign to trace and celebrate Lucienne Day’s silk mosaics.

From the mid-1970s to the end of the century Lucienne Day created several hundred silk mosaics. Many were sold to Lucienne Day enthusiasts at exhibitions all over the world. We hold over two hundred and fifty images relating to the silk mosaics in our digital archive, but these records are incomplete. To help us trace and catalogue as many as possible, we are inviting owners of silk mosaics to contact us or to post an image on social media #LucienneDay #silkmosaic.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/LD100

www.vam.ac.uk

Silk Mosaic on display at RSA

A major Lucienne Day silk mosaic which for thirty years had hung in the hallway of the designer's own home has now been put on public display for the first time. We donated The Castle and Other Stories (1979) to Royal Designers for Industry, based at the Royal Society of Arts, John Adam Street, London, where it may be viewed from 8.30am to 8pm, Monday to Friday.

Lucienne Day was elected Royal Designer for Industry in 1962. In 1987 she was appointed first-ever woman Master of the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry.

www.thersa.org

Talk at Fashion and Textile Museum

On Thursday September 7th Paula Day will present an illustrated talk about her mother's life and work and the Lucienne Day centenary year at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London. Tickets for this event include a complimentary drink and entry to the exhibition The World of Anna Sui.

Founded by British designer Zandra Rhodes and now run by Newham College, the Fashion and Textile Museum holds exhibitions and runs courses for creative students and businesses. In 2012 the Museum hosted the exhibition Designing Women: Post-war British Textiles which celebrated the work of Lucienne Day, Jacqueline Groag and Marian Mahler.

www.ftmlondon.org

Cushions launch at John Lewis

John Lewis has launched a second collection of Lucienne Day cushions. The minimalist design Graphica has been added to the existing range, along with Calyx, Flotilla and Magnetic in alternative colourways.

The cushions are made up from Classic Textiles' digital reprints of historic Lucienne Day designs on a substantial linen/cotton mix fabric.

www.johnlewis.com

The Home pays homage

Salts Mill design retailer The Home has mounted a Showcase Homage to Lucienne Day. The owners' exceptional private collection of 1950s/1960s Lucienne Day china tableware for German company Rosenthal is on display along with original Lucienne Day textiles.

The Home stocks our Lucienne Day 100 Designs poster, along with an extensive range of products designed by Robin and Lucienne Day.

www.thehomeonline.co.uk

Living Design at Carpet Museum

The Museum of Carpet is now displaying for the first time its entire archive collection of Lucienne Day's painted carpet designs for Kidderminster-based manufacturer Tomkinson's Carpets. The collection will be on show at the Museum alongside the Arts University Bournemouth touring exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design until the end of September.

www.museumofcarpet.org

www.aub.ac.uk

On July 20th Emma Hunt, curator of Lucienne Day: Living Design and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Arts University Bournemouth, spoke to an enthusiastic capacity audience at the Museum of Carpet.

Living Design at Design Manchester

The AUB touring exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design will be shown in Manchester as part of Design Manchester 2017. It will open on October 7th at the Vertical Gallery, spanning three floors of the Benzie Building, home of Manchester School of Art.

A panel discussion chaired by exhibition curator Emma Hunt with panel members Sir Christopher Frayling, Jennifer Harris and Paula Day will be held at the Gallery on October 18th.

Now in its fifth year, Design Manchester is a city-wide festival of creativity and design running from October 11th – 22nd 2017.

www.designmcr.com

www.designmcr.com/events

Exhibition at Glasgow School of Art

The exhibition Pioneers of Post-War Pattern, opening at the Reid Building, Glasgow School of Art on September 16th, will include digital reprints of Lucienne Day’s furnishing fabrics produced by Classic Textiles at the Centre for Advanced Textiles.

Glasgow School of Art launched Classic Textiles in 2003 with an exhibition of their new Lucienne Day digital reprints, shown alongside a major display of the designer's silk mosaics.

www.gsa.ac.uk

www.classictextiles.com

Contemporary Days film screening

The moving and informative full-length documentary Contemporary Days: the Designs of Lucienne and Robin Day will be shown on Thursday October 12th at the School of Textiles, Coggeshall, Essex. The film includes archival photographs and interviews with family, friends and design experts. View film clip.

www.schooloftextiles.co.uk

Day for Flowers

London design retailer twentytwentyone held an exhibition of floral tributes to Lucienne Day at the River Street showroom from June 21st – 24th.  

Ten individuals from a variety of design backgrounds used a new production of Lucienne Day’s 1966 designs for flower bricks to create diverse displays, ranging from Barber and Osgerby’s minimalist bulrushes to Margaret Howell’s effervescent grasses. Paula Day showed blooms from a climbing rose which had grown in her mother’s own garden.

The Centenary Edition of one hundred flower bricks was manufactured by Stoke-based ceramics company 1882 Ltd.

www.twentytwentyone.com

Slatted Bench reissue

London design retailer twentytwentyone will launch a new production of Robin Day’s Slatted Bench (1954) as part of Edit ’17, an exhibition of classic and contemporary furniture held at the River Street showroom on September 20th – 24th during the London Design Festival.

The Slatted Bench was designed in 1954 as a multifunctional interior platform. It can be used to support storage units or television, serve as a coffee table, or provide low seating. Timber slats are supported on a steel rod frame, fulfilling Robin Day's dictum that ‘what one needs in today’s small rooms is to see over and under one’s furniture’ (Robin Day, 1955).

www.londondesignfestival.com

Robin and Lucienne Day Prize at RCA

We awarded our annual RCA Robin and Lucienne Day Prize to MA Design Products graduates Katrine Hesseldahl and Viktor Strimfors for their work on Strata, a furniture system which addresses the wastage inherent in the design of, for example, a traditional sofa, which may be discarded to landfill simply because of damaged upholstery. Instead, a layer system is proposed, in which the base layer or frame is durable and can be reconfigured to make other kinds of furniture, while the middle and skin layers can be replaced.

The Prize is awarded annually to a final-year student of textile or product design whose work reflects Robin and Lucienne Day’s own commitment to social and environmental responsibility as well as high aesthetic quality.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

Foundation and AUB Textiles Prize

At the Arts University Bournemouth graduation ceremony on June 30th Vice Chancellor Professor Stuart Bartholomew presented Aimee Hartley, BA Textiles graduate, with a special prize for her Final Textile Show.

Aimee said: 'Receiving the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation/AUB prize was such a wonderful honour and a much-needed boost to my confidence when leaving the comfort of University’.

The AUB exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design was first shown in the university’s Gallery and is now touring nationwide.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

Causeway exhibited at MoMA

Lucienne Day's 1967 textile Causeway was exhibited in the exhibition Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, which closed on August 13th.

The Museum of Modern Art holds four Lucienne Day designs in its permanent collection, all of which were donated by Jill A. Wiltse and H. Kirk Brown III from their extensive private Lucienne Day collection.

www.moma.org

Lucienne Day 100 Designs poster

Our centenary poster is available at ten outlets nationwide. Please see our website for a full list of stockists.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/LD100

News about Lucienne Day 100

You can keep up to date with all Lucienne Day Centenary events, exhibitions and product launches by checking our website:

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/LD100

We also post daily on Twitter @robin_lucienne and Instagram @robinlucienneday.

Robin Day’s Polypropylene Side Chair and Armchair have both been awarded the Design Guild Mark by the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers. The Awards Ceremony took place at Design Fields, Clerkenwell, London on May 25th (which would have been Robin Day’s 102nd birthday).

Robin Day’s Polypropylene Chairs have been produced in Britain by Hille ever since they were first launched over fifty years ago.

The Design Guild Mark is awarded in recognition of the highest standards of design for volume production within the British furniture industry.

www.furnituremakers.org.uk

Childsply Chair reissue

London design retailer twentytwentyone have reissued Robin Day’s Childsply Chair.

Robin Day designed the Childsply Chair in 1999 in response to a twentytwentyone charity project in which designers were invited to create an item of childrens’ furniture using a single sheet of plywood. Small batches of the chair were subsequently made by Robin Day’s craftsman friend John Haddock. It has now been put into volume production.

The Design Museum holds an example of the Childsply Chair in its permanent collection. It was also one of the designs shown in the exhibiition Robin Day Works in Wood, held at the V&A Museum during London Design Festival 2015.

www.twentytwentyone.com

675 Chair Special Edition

A Special Edition of Robin Day’s 675 Chair has launched at the Conran Shop. Manufacturers Case Furniture have produced a limited edition of the 1952 design classic with upholstery by Mourne Textiles.

In the 1950s Robin Day collaborated with Gerd Hay-Edie, founder of Mourne Textiles, on upholstery for his furniture designs. The 675 Chair Special Edition features Mourne Check, a heritage tweed which has been brought back into production by Gerd Hay-Edie’s grandson Mario Sierra.

The Special Edition is available in three Mourne Check heritage colours - Granite, Bilberry Blue and Robin Red, thought to be Robin Day’s favourite version.

_{Photograph Courtesy The Conran Shop}

www.conranshop.co.uk

www.mournetextiles.com

Lucienne Day Centenary

We are delighted that several more partner organisations have joined us to celebrate Lucienne Day’s centenary this year. These include London design retailer twentytwentyone, the Museum of Carpet in Kidderminster and the School of Textiles, Coggeshall, Essex. In this Newsletter we report on the spring’s events and share news about what’s coming up this summer.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/LD100

Exhibition at Museum of Carpet

July 1st – September 30th
Museum of Carpet, Kidderminster

The Carpet Museum is celebrating Lucienne Day's centenary by showing the touring exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design alongside their own unique archive collection of original hand painted carpet designs by Lucienne Day.

The Carpet Museum is the only museum in the UK dedicated to carpets and carpet making.

www.museumofcarpet.org

Flower Bricks reissue

We have collaborated with London design retailer twentytwentyone and Stoke-based ceramics company 1882 Ltd to reissue two of Lucienne Day’s flower brick designs.

The flower brick has its origins in the decorative Delftware produced during the 18th century to hold ornate floral displays. In 1966 Lucienne Day reinterpreted this historic genre in a collection of distinctive contemporary designs.

A celebratory limited edition of one hundred pieces will be launched at twentytwentyone on June 20th at Day for Flowers exhibition.

www.1882ltd.com

Day for Flowers

June 21st – 24th
twentytwentyone River Street showroom, London

Design retailer twentytwentyone is celebrating Lucienne Day's centenary with Day for Flowers, an exhibition of floral displays to mark the launch of a new production of Lucienne Day's Flower Bricks. Ten creative individuals from the worlds of fashion, design, interiors, architecture and journalism will participate by creating a display using a Lucienne Day flower brick.

www.twentytwentyone.com

Lucienne Day Saturday

Saturday June 10th, 11am – 4pm
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester

This free all-day event at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester will include a tour of the exhibition Lucienne Day: A Sense of Growth led by the curator Jennifer Harris, a print-making workshop inspired by the work of Lucienne Day, a talk by Paula Day about plants in her mother’s life and work, and a screening of the documentary film Contemporary Days: the Designs of Lucienne and Robin Day. 

www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk

Lucienne Day cards

The Whitworth Art Gallery shop has launched a range of greetings cards, postcards and mini-prints featuring mages of Lucienne Day’s plant-inspired textiles.

Other Lucienne Day products available at the shop include tea towels, books and our Lucienne Day 100 Designs poster.

www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk

Lucienne Day: The Right Line

Wednesday June 7th, 7pm – 8pm
School of Textiles, Coggeshall, Essex

Distinguished textile historian and Honorary President of the Textile Society Mary Schoeser will speak about Lucienne Day. The talk will open with a filmed interview with Paula Day, daughter of Lucienne and Robin Day, who will talk about her mother’s design process and her parents’ mutual influence.

www.schooloftextiles.co.uk

Centenary Award to Jennifer Harris

Paula Day presented Jennifer Harris with our Centenary Award for Lifetime Contribution to Lucienne Day Studies at the Textile Society’s Antique and Vintage Textile Fair, Manchester on April 30th. Jennifer then gave an illustrated talk about Lucienne Day and her work.

In 1993 Jennifer Harris curated the first-ever Lucienne Day retrospective, Lucienne Day: A Career in Design, at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. She is also the curator of the current Whitworth exhibition Lucienne Day: A Sense of Growth.

Lucienne Day was the first Honorary President of the Textile Society, a position she held from 1993 to 2003.

www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk

www.textilesociety.org.uk

Lucienne Day in Cumbria

A packed audience attended Paula Day's illustrated talk about her mother's life and work at Farfield Mill, Sedbergh, Cumbria on April 23rd. A selection of Lucienne Day’s printed textiles and silk mosaics were on display.

Farfiled Mill is an arts, crafts and heritage centre housed in a restored Victorian woollen mill in the Yorkshire Dales.

www.farfieldmill.org

Lucienne Day on BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 has featured the Whitworth exhibition Lucienne Day: A Sense of Growth on three occasions in the last six weeks.

You and Yours, April 19th
www.bbc.co.uk

Start the Week, April 24th
www.bbc.co.uk

Saturday Review, June 3rd 
www.bbc.co.uk

Our PR consultants Caro Communications are continuing to achieve an exceptionally high level of coverage of the Lucienne Day Centenary Celebrations in regional, national and international press.

www.carocommunications.com

Lucienne Day 100 Designs poster

Our centenary poster is available at a growing number of outlets all over the country. Please see our website for a full list of stockists.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/LD100

News about Lucienne Day 100

You can keep up to date with all Lucienne Day Centenary events, exhibitions and product launches as they are announced by checking our website www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/LD100

We also post daily on Twitter @robin_lucienne and Instagram @robinlucienneday.

We are continuing to work with partner organisations all over the country to celebrate Lucienne Day's centenary year. In this Newsletter we report on what's happened so far and share news about exhibitions and events opening this spring.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/LD100

Lucienne Day: A Sense of Growth

April 14th – June 11th
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester University

Lucienne Day was a passionate gardener and many of her textile designs were inspired by the patterns she saw in plant-forms, leaves, flowers and trees.

This show is part of the gallery's GROW project which promotes the benefits of engaging in horticultural activities to improve mental wellbeing. Groups and individuals within the local community who are experiencing social isolation or dealing with issues around mental health have worked with Paula Day to select plant-inspired works from the Whitworth's extensive Lucienne Day archive.

The exhibition includes a display of Lucienne Day’s gardening implements and images of her own garden.

www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk

Lucienne Day: A Sense of Growth Launch Event

Thursday 13th April, 6pm – 8pm
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester University

Curator Jennifer Harris and Paula Day will open and introduce Lucienne Day: A Sense of Growth in the Collections Centre, which looks out over the Art Garden. There will be an opportunity to view a short film about the GROW project.

This will be followed at 7pm by a Contemporary Floral Art: Art Alive event. You are invited to observe international floral designer Craig Bullock’s thinking process from research to realisation as he responds to Lucienne Day’s designs to create a 3D floral sculpture.

www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk

Lucienne Day cushions at John Lewis

British retailer John Lewis has launched an exclusive range of six cushions created using Lucienne Day at Classic Textiles fabrics. They feature 1950s designs Calyx, Flotilla, Dandelion Clocks, Lapis, Spectators and Magnetic. The Flotilla and Magnetic cushions have been produced in a limited edition of only one hundred units each to celebrate Lucienne Day's centenary.

www.johnlewis.com

Presentation of Lucienne Day Studies Award

Sunday April 30th, 12pm
Armitage Centre, Manchester

To celebrate Lucienne Day’s centenary year, the Foundation has created a one-off Award for Lifetime Contribution to Lucienne Day Studies, in association with the Textile Society. 

Lucienne Day was the first Honorary President of the Textile Society, a charity dedicated to the study of the history, art and design of textiles. The Award for Lifetime Contribution to Lucienne Day Studies will be presented by Paula Day at the Textile Society’s annual Antique & Vintage Textile Fair, to be held at the Armitage Centre, Manchester.

www.textilesociety.org.uk

Textile Society Research Day

Saturday May 27th, 9.30am – 5pm
The Wellcome Collection, London

The Textile Society bienniaI research day ‘Research Strategies IV’ will include papers devoted to research which focuses on the post-war era and the work of designers who were contemporaries of Lucienne Day. Paula Day will talk about the Foundation’s Lucienne Day digital archive project.

www.textilesociety.org.uk

Lucienne Day in Cumbria

Sunday April 23rd, 2pm
Farfield Mill, Sedbergh

Paula Day will present an illustrated talk about her mother’s life and work, including her love for the landscapes of Cumbria. Lucienne’s silk mosaic The Howgills will be on display at the event alongside some examples of her printed textiles.

www.farfieldmill.org

Lucienne Day's Tesserae carpet

Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle

Lucienne Day's carpet design Tesserae (1957) takes pride of place in the Bowes Museum Design Centre Awards display - a rare collection of modern design classics in the newly re-opened Fashion and Textile Gallery.

www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk

JLP Heritage Centre exhibition extended

John Lewis Heritage Centre, Cookham

The exhibition about the Days' work as Design Consultants to the John Lewis Partnership has now been extended to the summer. The adjacent display of Lucienne Day's textiles will remain on show to the end of the year. The Heritage Centre is open to the public on Saturdays from 10am - 4pm, and by appointment.

www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk

Lucienne Day: Living Design

Lucienne Day: Living Design launched at The Gallery, Arts University Bournemouth on January 12th. A capacity audience attended a panel discussion chaired by curator Emma Hunt with panel members Sir Christopher Frayling, Jennifer Harris and Paula Day.

The exhibition was formally opened by Sir Christopher Frayling, Chancellor of AUB and Patron of the Foundation.

The exhibition, which included a chronological sequence of images from the Foundation’s digital archive and an impressive array of current productions of Lucienne Day’s designs, was widely acclaimed and has provided a resource for numerous student projects and schools workshops.

Image: Courtesy The Gregg School.

www.aub.ac.uk

Lucienne Day Textiles at Pallant

Pallant Restaurant, Chichester

Lucienne Day textile panels will remain on display in the restaurant of Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, till June 11th. The restaurant is furnished with Robin Day’s chairs and was the venue for Lucienne Day’s ‘100th birthday’ tea party.

www.pallant.org.uk

Lucienne Day’s ‘100th birthday’

The Lucienne Day centenary celebrations were symbolically launched on January 5th, Lucienne Day’s birthday, when her daughter Paula lit a single candle on her mother’s ‘100th birthday’ cake at a tea party event organised by local designer Alys Bryan in the restaurant of Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, a few minutes’ walk away from the Days’ former home.

Lucienne Day 100 Designs posters

Our centenary poster is available from selected outlets including Design Museum Shop, The Home, Pallant House Bookshop, Persephone Books, twentytwentyone and Whitworth Shop. It may also be ordered online from twentytwentyone.

www.twentytwentyone.com

#LucienneDay100 Trends on Twitter

On January 29th the Foundation hosted the Design Museum’s Font Sunday on Twitter, with the theme #fontsonfabric. Nine images of Lucienne Day textiles based on lettering were posted online, and thousands of participants sent in images. The #LucienneDay100 Font Sunday was trending on Twitter for much of the afternoon.

#LucienneDay100 social media posts

We are inviting owners of Lucienne Day textiles and silk mosaics to post photos of them on Twitter or Instagram #LucienneDay100. We display a selection of the posts on our website 
www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/LD100

Image: @heidilightfoot

News about Lucienne Day 100

You can keep up to date with all Lucienne Day Centenary events, exhibitions and product launches as they are announced by checking our website 
www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/LD100

We also post daily on Twitter @robin_lucienne and Instagram @robinlucienneday.

Lucienne Day was born on January 5th 1917. On would have been her 100th birthday, we are launching a programme of celebrations taking place at venues right across the country all through her centenary year.

Our Lucienne Day Centenary webpage launches on our website today, with all confirmed exhibition and event listings, shopping information and our pick of the #LucienneDay100 social media posts. 
www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/LD100

A selection of the exhibitions and events launching early in the year is included below. Much more to come in our Spring Newsletter.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/LD100

Lucienne Day 100 Designs poster

Our Lucienne Day 100 Designs poster launches today at selected outlets nationwide.

Designed by Studio Fernando Gutiérrez especially for the centenary, it celebrates Lucienne Day's six-decade design career and showcases a wealth of images from our newly-developed Lucienne Day digital archive, many of which have never before been published. The poster may be purchased online from London design retailer twentytwentyone.

www.twentytwentyone.com

Lucienne Day Textiles in Pallant Restaurant

Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
January 5th – June 11th

In their last years Lucienne and Robin Day made their home in Chichester. Pallant House Gallery holds one of the country’s finest collections of 20th century British art and its restaurant, furnished with Robin Day’s chairs, is hosting a display of Lucienne Day textiles.

www.pallant.org.uk

Lucienne Day’s ‘100th birthday’ tea

Pallant Restaurant, Chichester
Thursday January 5th, 3pm
Ticket-holders only

A celebratory afternoon tea party organised by local designer Alys Bryan will be held at Pallant House Gallery. Paula Day will talk about her mother's life and work, and the programme of events taking place nationwide in her centenary year. Guests will receive as a memento a limited-edition cotton napkin featuring a rare Lucienne Day print.

www.pallant.org.uk

Lucienne Day at Persephone Books

Persephone Books, London
January 5th onwards

A display of Persephone Books publications with Lucienne Day textile design endpapers. Lucienne Day agreed to the use of her designs on these high-quality reprints of titles by mid-twentieth century women writers.

www.persephonebooks.co.uk

The Legacy of Lucienne and Robin Day: a Partnership Perspective

The John Lewis Heritage Centre, Cookham
January 3rd – March 25th

This exhibition reveals the lasting influence of Lucienne and Robin Day in their twenty-five years as joint Design Consultants to the John Lewis Partnership. Their coherent and consistent style, reflecting the enterprising and enlightened ideas behind the co-owned business, can still be identified in the stores today. The Heritage Centre holds an archive of documents and images which chart this relationship, as well as a unique collection of Lucienne Day's own original textiles artwork.

www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk

New Lucienne Day Textiles

We have been working with our licensee Classic Textiles on new productions of Lucienne Day's designs Lapis (1953) and Silver Birch (1958). The authentic new prints have been carefully colour-matched to original 1950s textiles held at Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, and to Lucienne Day's own artwork for Silver Birch, held at the John Lewis Heritage Centre, Cookham.

The two designs will launch exclusively at John Lewis, as part of a range of Lucienne Day at Classic Textiles furnishing fabrics and exclusive new cushions available at selected branches from early in 2017.

www.classictextiles.com

Lucienne Day: Living Design

The Gallery, Arts University Bournemouth
January 12th – March 22nd

This exhibition tells the story of Lucienne Day’s design career, unfolding in a sequence of photographs drawn from the archives of the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation. This is complemented by a vibrant display of original silk mosaics and an impressive array of current or recent productions of Lucienne Day’s designs for curtains, dress fabrics and tea towels, demonstrating the continuing vitality of her design legacy. In a lifetime of dedicated design practice, Lucienne Day created a body of work which is steadily coming back into commercial production to excite and inspire a new generation.

www.aub.ac.uk

Lucienne Day: Living Design - Panel Discussion

The Gallery, Arts University Bournemouth
Thursday January 12th, 5.15 – 6.15pm

To mark the opening of the exhibition Lucienne Day: Living Design, a panel chaired by exhibition curator Professor Emma Hunt will discuss the life and work of Lucienne Day. Panel members will include Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, Dr Paula Day and Dr Jennifer Harris.

Booking: www.store.aub.ac.uk

Lucienne Day: Living Design – for schools and colleges

Arts University Bournemouth
Thursday February 9th, 10 – 3pm
Thursday March 9th, 10 – 3pm

After an introduction and visit to the exhibition, participants will be invited to make decorative artwork inspired by the colours and repeats of Lucienne Day’s designs using a variety of papers and graphic materials.

Thursday March 16th, 12.30 – 3.15pm

A talk and film screening for schools and college students.

Booking: schools@aub.ac.uk

Contemporary Days: The Designs of Lucienne and Robin Day

Northwest Lecture Theatre, Arts University Bournemouth
Thursday March 16th

Film Screening, 5 – 6.15pm
Drinks Reception, 6.15 – 7.15pm

This moving and informative full-length documentary made in 2010 by US nonprofit foundation Design Onscreen includes archival photos and interviews with family, friends and design experts. View film clip on our website www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

Booking: www.store.aub.ac.uk

Robin Day studio at Design Museum

Elements of Robin Day's studio on loan from the Foundation have been installed in the Sackler Library in the new Design Museum. Items on display include his drawing table, drawing implements, set-squares and small models, together with part of Robin and Lucienne Day’s art and design books collection.

The Design Museum re-opened to the public at its new site, the former Commonwealth Institute in Kensington High Street, on November 24th.

www.designmuseum.org

Robin Day carpets at Midlands Modern

Some of Robin Day’s 1961/62 carpet designs for Woodward Grosvenor, now held in the Brinton’s Carpets archive, are on show at Midlands Modern, Parkside Gallery, Birmingham till January 14th 2017.

The exhibition showcases products manufactured by Midlands based companies working with significant designers from 1930 to 1980.

www.bcu.ac.uk

Poly Chairs in white / chrome

Robin Day’s Polypropylene side chair and armchair with white shell and chrome frame are now available to pre-order from John Lewis.

White was one of the ‘second generation’ of Polypropylene Chair colours launched by British furniture company Hille in the late 1960s.

www.johnlewis.com/polypropylene-side-chair

www.johnlewis.com/polypropylene-armchair

100 Midcentury Chairs

This new Pavilion Books publication by Lucy Ryder Richardson, co-founder of Midcentury Modern Shows, features her personal selection of international 20th century chair designs. Robin Day is represented by his Hillestak, 675 Chair and Reclining Chair.

www.store.pavilionbooks.com

Social Media

We are now posting @robinlucienneday on Instagram and @robin_lucienne on Twitter.

Lucienne Day’s monumental silk mosaics Aspects of the Sun (1990) and Islands (1991) have been rehung at John Lewis Kingston.

The pieces were commissioned for the lofty coffee shop in the new John Lewis store at Kingston-upon-Thames. Aspects of the Sun consists of six variations on a solar theme, while the twelve panels of Islands together depict a single landscape. This September both works were rehung on an expansive wall above the menswear department. They can now be viewed across the store from the Design Icons furniture area where Robin Day’s chairs are on display.

www.johnlewis.com

Lucienne Day Centenary preparations

We are preparing to celebrate Lucienne Day’s centenary next year with a nationwide programme of exhibitions and events, due to launch online on her ‘100th birthday’, January 5th 2017.

Studio Fernando Gutiérrez have designed the graphics and publicity will be managed by Caro Communications.

We are creating a Lucienne Day 100 Designs poster which will display a wealth of previously unpublished images from our newly-developed Lucienne Day digital archive.

Robin and Lucienne Day RCA Award

This year we awarded the RCA Robin and Lucienne Day Prize to Woven Textiles MA student Jacqueline Lefferts for her pioneering work on single-process garment construction. By merging the manufacture of fabrics and fashion, materials wastage and shipping between links in the supply chain can be reduced.

The Robin and Lucienne Day Prize is awarded annually to a final-year student of textile or product design whose work, in the judgement of the RCA Rector and Foundation Chair, reflects Robin and Lucienne Day’s own commitment to social and environmental responsibility as well as high aesthetic quality.

www.rca.ac.uk

Robin Day Centenary Project winner at New Designers

Robin Day Centenary Project winner Madara Degtere exhibited her winning lounge chair at New Designers, London in July, alongside work by fellow Bucks New University furniture BA Hons graduates.

www.bucks.ac.uk

Paula Day piece on design copies

Paula Day wrote about the importance of respecting designers’ legacies in a piece published in Caro Communications’ Bulletin in August. "My father’s name represents a lifetime of dedicated design practise" she explained.

www.carocommunications.com

Mourne Textiles exhibition

An exhibition celebrating the life and work of Gerd Hay-Edie, inspirational weaver and founder of Mourne Textiles, has just opened at the Margaret Howell shop in London.

The exhibits include vintage examples of Robin Day's Slat Chair (1952) and Telechair (1953), as well as London design retailer twentytwentyone's new production of his Reclining Chair (1952). All three chairs are upholstered in the Mourne Check weave which was extensively used by furniture company Hille on Robin Day's designs.

Gerd Hay-Edie: Evolutionary Weaver
Margaret Howell,
34 Wigmore Street, London
Thursday 13 October -
Sunday 30 October 2016

www.margarethowell.co.uk

Persephone Books

We have now re-licensed Persephone Books who with Lucienne Day's agreement used her designs as endpapers for some of their beautifully-produced publications. Horse's Head (1940) is used for Princes in the Land by Joanna Cannan, Palisade (1952) for A Woman's Place 1910 - 1975 by Ruth Adam, and Plantation (1958) for Lettice Delmer by Susan Miles.

Persephone Books specialise in reprinting titles by mid-twentieth century women writers.

www.persephonebooks.co.uk

New Administrator

We have appointed Caroline Roberts as the Foundation’s new administrator.

Caroline has a background in textiles and design curation. Currently she delivers editorial and PR projects for a variety of design-led clients as well as running Grafik.net.

Social Media

We are now posting @robinlucienneday on Instagram and @robin_lucienne on Twitter.

Foundation Chair Paula Day visited her father’s birthplace High Wycombe on June 10th to review full-size design prototypes developed by Buckinghamshire New University BA Hons Furniture students on the final stage of the Robin Day Centenary Project. She presented a Robin Day Polypropylene Chair to the winner, Madara Degtere.

The project was launched in November 2015 and run by the Foundation’s furniture technician Amos Marchant and the University’s furniture tutors Fiona Davidson and Alex Hellum.

Paula Day said: It was a pleasure to see the very wide range of excellent work developed by students who participated in the Robin Day Centenary Project. Madara Degtere's reclining chair stood out; careful thought had gone into every aspect of the design…and the result was visually interesting and very comfortable.

The high standard of work is a tribute to the staff and students of the furniture department. I am deeply saddened to learn that the University has now closed the department. This is the institution which trained my father and many other leading furniture designers up to the present day. For over 100 years it has held in trust and passed on to successive generations the accumulated furniture experience of High Wycombe, historic heart of the furniture industry. The tragic loss this closure represents to the British design industry is underlined by the outstanding quality of the work produced by students in this final year.

All the students’ work will be on show at New Designers, Business Design Centre, London N1, July 6th – 9th

www.newdesigners.com

Robin Day student design

An inlaid bureau owned by Robert Simmons, whose family were neighbours of Robin Day’s parents at Hughenden Road, High Wycombe, has been identified as a student piece made by Robin Day at High Wycombe School of Art (now Buckinghamshire New University) c.1932. This is the earliest known design by Robin Day.

Midcentury Magazine Robin Day print

Midcentury Magazine have published a limited edition A5 letterpress print inspired by Robin Day’s words: In my long years of designing, the thing that has always interested me is the social context of design and designing things that are good quality that most people can afford. It was always my mission to mass-produce low-cost seating, because I do think that clarity and what we call 'good design' is a social force that can enhance people's environments. (Robin Day, 1999).

The print completes a set of three inspired by the words of Le Corbusier, Charles Eames and Robin Day respectively.

Midcentury Magazine is a twice-yearly publication which celebrates the best of 20th century furniture, interiors and architecture.

www.midcenturymagazine.com

Foundation Chair tours
John Lewis Design Icons

Foundation Chair Paula Day is touring John Lewis stores with Design Icons areas to talk to furniture sales staff about her father’s designs.

John Lewis carries the Robin Day 675 Chair, produced by Case Furniture, and the Robin Day Polypropylene Side Chair and Armchair, manufactured by Hille.

www.johnlewis.com

Days in Sussex

Days in Sussex, a design event organised by Alys Bryan, took place on April 9th at The Novium, Chichester before a capacity audience. Paula Day presented an illustrated talk about her parents’ lives and work. Distinguished design journalist Peter Murray chaired a panel discussion on the Days’ contemporary significance with designers Gerardine Hemingway and Charlie Fowler.

Audience members viewed an exhibition of Robin and Lucienne Day’s designs and received a complimentary copy of the Robin Day 100 Designs poster courtesy of London design retailer twentytwentyone.

www.daysinsussex.co.uk

Lucienne Day digital archive

The Foundation has commissioned Gwen Riley-Jones of the Centre for Heritage Imaging, Manchester University to digitise Lucienne Day’s own collection of over 600 photographic prints and slides, and Michael Pollard to photograph the Whitworth Art Gallery’s archive of over 300 Lucienne Day textiles, carpets and wallpapers, the majority of which were donated to the Gallery by the designer herself.

Together with nearly 70 images of textiles in their private collection generously shared by Kirk Brown and Jill Wiltse and 30 images of designs in their archive kindly provided by the John Lewis Partnership, this new digital material will form a comprehensive record of Lucienne Day’s work from 1940 to the end of the century.

Cataloguing is now underway, with input from design historian Lesley Jackson. Foundation archivist Wilhelmina Baldwin has put in place a system for recording permissions and credits requirements for all images.

Bookroom Art Press Lucienne Day prints

Fine art publishers Bookroom Art Press are launching four high-quality limited edition prints of tea towels designed by Lucienne Day from 1959 onwards for Belfast-based linen company Thomas Somerset. The prints show images of original textiles held in the archives of the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.

The Bookroom Art Press specialise in reproducing the work of 20th century fine artists including Eric Ravilious, Victor Pasmore and Patrick Caulfield. Their limited edition prints are stocked in Art Gallery shops nationwide. The Lucienne Day series marks a new departure and will place her work alongside that of some of Britain’s most distinguished fine artists of the 20th century.

Lucienne Day tea towels in pure Irish linen are available from London design retailer twentytwentyone.

www.bookroomartpress.co.uk
www.twentytwentyone.com

Robin and Lucienne Day Prize at RCA

For the second year running the Foundation will be making an award at the Royal College of Art. The Robin and Lucienne Day Prize will be awarded to a final-year student of textile or product design whose work, in the judgement of the RCA Rector and Foundation Chair, reflects Robin and Lucienne Day’s own commitment to social and environmental responsibility as well as high aesthetic quality.

In 2015 the prize was awarded to Printed Textiles MA student Lucy Rainbow for her designs for NHS hospital workwear in sustainable fabrics such as hemp.

Robin and Lucienne Day both studied at RCA and met there in March 1940.

www.rca.ac.uk

Social Media

The Foundation is now posting @robinlucienneday on Instagram and @robin_lucienne on Twitter.

Lucienne Day’s designs Magnetic (1957) and Mezzanine (1958) (shown here with George Kravis and Juilet Kinchin, Curator of Historical Design) are on display at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

The textiles were presented to the Museum on a part-gift basis by Kirk Brown and Jill Wiltse, whose extensive Lucienne Day textile collection has been widely exhibited at venues including the Textile Museum, Washington DC, the Fashion & Textile Museum, London, and Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.

Kirk Brown and Jill Wiltse founded Denver-based not-for-profit foundation Design Onscreen, which made the documentary film Contemporary Days: the Designs of Lucienne and Robin Day (2010).

www.designonscreen.org

Days in Sussex

On April 9th 2016 Paula Day and a panel of design professionals including Gerardine Hemmingway and Charlie Fowler will speak about her parents’ lives and work at The Novium Museum, Chichester, West Sussex.

Robin and Lucienne Day had close links with Sussex and lived in Chichester for their final decade. Days in Sussex is organised by local designer Alys Bryan, who was one of the Bucks New University Furniture MA students to visit Robin and Lucienne Day at their Chichester home in 2006.

The Novium received an RIBA Award for architectural excellence in 2014.

Tickets are available online from

www.daysinsussex.co.uk

Robin Day chairs at Pallant House

The restaurant at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester has been re-furnished with Robin Day’s 675 Chairs and West Street Chairs. Robin Day finalised the West Street Chair design for Case Furniture in 2006 when he was living at West Street, Chichester.

Pallant House Gallery holds one of the country’s finest collections of Modern British Art. In 2011 the Gallery held an exhibition entitled Robin and Lucienne Day: Design and the Modern Interior.

www.pallant.org.uk
www.casefurniture.com

Lucienne Day wallpaper at Whitworth

The Whitworth Art Gallery’s new exhibition Wallpaper includes four of Lucienne Day’s designs including Provence, which was launched at the Festival of Britain in 1951.

In the 1950s Lucienne Day designed wallpapers for a number of companies including Cole & Son, John Line, WPM (Crown) and the German firm Rasch.

The exhibition runs till September 4th 2016.

www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk

Poly Chair in John Lewis Home Book

Robin Day’s Polypropylene Chair features opposite the Eames DKW Wire Chair in the John Lewis Spring/Summer 2016 Home Book.

The Robin Day Polypropylene Side Chair and Armchair and the Robin Day 675 Chair are available at ten John Lewis Design Icons branches nationwide as well as online.

www.johnlewis.com

Bucks New University Robin Day Centenary Project

On December 15th 2015 the Foundation’s Chair Paula Day visited her father’s birthplace High Wycombe to join Foundation furniture technician Amos Marchant and Bucks New University tutors Fiona Davidson and Alex Hellum in viewing models made by BA Hons Furniture students for the first stage of the Robin Day Centenary Furniture Design Project.

Paula presented a copy of Robin and Lucienne Day: Pioneers of Contemporary Design to Sabiha Macit as a prize for best design concept.

The project will conclude in June 2016 when the students present full-size design prototypes.

Assemble wins Turner Prize

The Turner Prize 2015 was awarded to Architects’ collective Assemble.

The announcement was made on December 7th at Glasgow Tramway. Assemble displayed items made at the Granby Workshop, Liverpool, a project set up as part of their collaboration with residents to regenerate the Granby area of the city.

Assemble designed Robin Day Works in Wood, the exhibit shown at V&A during London Design Festival 2015 to celebrate Robin Day’s Centenary.

www.assemblestudio.co.uk

twentytwentyone turns 20

The Foundation congratulates design retailer twentytwentyone on the company’s 20th anniversary.

Twentytwentyone was set up by Simon Alderson and Tony Cunningham in 1996. In the early years of the new millennium the company commissioned Robin Day to design the Avian range and reissued classics such as Lucienne Day’s tea towels.

Twentytwentyone’s collaborations with the Foundation have included At Home with the Days online fundraising auction in 2014 and the Robin Day Reclining Chair Centenary Edition in 2015.

www.twentytwentyone.com

Foundation on Twitter

The Foundation’s Twitter account provides daily information about events, exhibitions and publications featuring the work of Robin and Lucienne Day, design history including images from the Foundation’s digital archive, and current licensed productions of the Days’ designs.

Follow @Robin_Lucienne.

An LDF exhibition exploring Robin Day’s lifelong love for wood was shown at V&A from September 19th to October 4th. Robin Day Works in Wood was curated by Jane Withers and designed by Assemble, with graphics by Studio Gutiérrez. The timber plinths and table were fabricated by Benchmark.

www.londondesignfestival.com
www.janewithers.com
www.assemblestudio.co.uk
www.fernandogutierrez.co.uk
www.benchmarkfurniture.com

The exhibit was supported by the Foundation and by public money from Arts Council England, with further sponsorship from John Lewis and Benchmark. The Robin Day furniture on display was loaned by twentytwentyone, Amos Marchant, Michael and Anne Sydney, Case Furniture and Paula Day.

The Foundation would like to thank all the sponsors and lenders.

www.artscouncil.org.uk
www.johnlewis.com
www.twentytwentyone.com
www.amosmarchant.com
www.casefurniture.com

Celebrating Robin Day at V&A

A Robin Day symposium was held at V&A on September 25th. Paula Day, Corinne Julius, John Simmons and Amos Marchant spoke. V&A archivist Christopher Marsden presented a selection of Robin Day’s posters and technical drawings.

The audience included students from the furniture programme at Bucks New University, formerly High Wycombe Art School, where Robin Day studied in the early 1930s.

Robin Day: Redefining British Design

A Robin Day Retrospective was launched at Case Furniture’s new Wandsworth showroom on September 21st. The original Robin Day pieces on show ranged from his 1951 chairs for the Royal Festival Hall to designs from the 2000s.

Case Furniture manufacture Robin Day’s 675 chair (1952) and West Street chair (2006)

www.casefurniture.com

Robin Day Design Icons at John Lewis

Robin Day’s Polypropylene side chair and armchair for Hille are now available at all ten John Lewis branches with Design Icons departments nationwide.

www.johnlewis.com

Robin Day 675 chair now at Heal’s

Case Furniture’s endorsed production of Robin Day’s 675 chair (1952) is now available at Heal’s Designer Brands on the second floor of the Tottenham Court Road store.

www.heals.com

Robin Day Reclining chair at twentytwentyone

The Centenary Edition of Robin Day’s Reclining chair (1952) with upholstery by ten of the country’s foremost designers is still available from design retailer twentytwentyone.

Robin Day’s Avian range (2000) and Tricorne tray are also manufactured by twentytwentyone, and his Sussex bench and table for Magis may be ordered through the company.

www.twentytwentyone.com

Robin Day project at Bucks New University

The Foundation’s furniture technician Amos Marchant with tutors Fiona Davidson and Alex Hellum are running a Robin Day Centenary design project for furniture students at Bucks New University this November.

In 2006 Robin and Lucienne Day invited Bucks New University furniture students and tutors to their home in Chichester. Photo by Tony Smart.

Peter Moro: A 20th Century Architect Reassessed

The work of architect Peter Moro is the subject of a conference organised by the Twentieth Century Society to be held at the University of Westminster, London on November 14th.

Peter Moro invited Robin Day to work with him on exhibition designs in the late 1940s, and brought him in to design all the furniture for his Royal Festival Hall interiors. Later collaborations included Nottingham Theatre and the Hille showroom in Albemarle Street.

www.c20society.org.uk

Foundation on Twitter

The Foundation can now be followed on Twitter  @Robin_Lucienne.

Christmas Robin?

Robin Day 100 Designs poster, £12

www.twentytwentyone.com

Robin Day Polypropylene chair, £49

www.johnlewis.co.uk

Robin Day Tricorne tray, £85

www.twentytwentyone.com

Robin Day’s centenary will be celebrated with exhibitions and events across the capital during London Design Festival (September 19th - 27th).

A free ‘Day in London’ fold-out map is available by post from the Foundation.

londondesignfestival.com

Robin Day Works in Wood

A ‘forest’ installation by Turner Prize nominees Assemble puts Robin Day’s work into a new perspective. The exhibit, curated by Jane Withers, juxtaposes his furniture designs with personal objects he made by hand out of the material he loved best – wood.

V&A, Britain 1500–1760, Landing, Level 4,
Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL
19 September - 4 October
Mon – Sun 10.00am – 5.45pm
Free entry

londondesignfestival.com

Celebrating Robin Day at V&A

Speakers at this symposium include design journalist Corinne Julius, Robin Day’s daughter Paula Day, and Robin Day’s draughtsman John Simmons in conversation with the Foundation’s furniture technician Amos Marchant. Technical drawings from the V&A archive will be on view.

V&A, The Lydia and Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre,
Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL
25 September
10.30am – 12.30am
£28, £25 concessions,
£10 students

londondesignfestival.com

Robin Day 100 Designs

During London Design Festival the Robin Day centenary poster will be in stock at the V&A shop, Case Furniture and twentytwentyone. It is also available online from twentytwentyone.

twentytwentyone.com

Robin Day Reclining chair Centenary Edition

Ten of the country’s foremost designers collaborate with twentytwentyone to pay tribute to Robin’s classic Reclining chair (1952) by selecting contemporary upholstery. First launched on June 30th, the Centenary Edition is now on display at twentytwentyone’s shop and showroom.

twentytwentyone
SHOP: 274-275 Upper Street
London N1 2UA
19 – 27 September
Mon – Sat 10am – 6pm
Sun 11am – 5pm
SHOWROOM: 18C River Street
London EC1R 1XN
19 – 27 September
Mon – Sat 9.30am – 5.30pm
Free entry

twentytwentyone.com

Robin Day: Re-defining British Design

A retrospective showing original Robin Day pieces on loan from private collectors across the country, including chairs designed for the opening of the Royal Festival Hall in 1951, and the closely related 675 chair (1952).

Case Furniture,
23 East Hill, London, SW18 2HZ
19 – 27 September
Mon – Fri 10am – 6pm
Sat 10am – 4pm
Free entry

londondesignfestival.com

Robin Day Design Icons

Robin Day’s most famous designs, the Polypropylene side chair (1963) and armchair (1967), re-launch alongside his classic 675 dining chair in a special Robin Day display on the new Home Floors at John Lewis Oxford Street. All the chairs are available to order online and will be ranged at ten John Lewis Design Icons departments across the country by the end of September.

Robin and Lucienne Day worked as Design Consultants to John Lewis from 1962 – 1987, overseeing a transformation of all aspects of the company’s house style.

John Lewis Design Floor,
300 Oxford St,
London, W1C IDX
19 – 27 September
Mon – Sat 9.30am – 8pm
Thurs 9.30am – 9pm
Sun 12pm – 6pm
Free entry

johnlewis.com

Foundation and Hille

The Foundation is delighted to announce a new collaboration with Hille Educational Products.

Robin Day designed the Hille logo in 1949 at the start of his long and close relationship with the Hille family firm. Over the next three decades his prolific and innovative output for the company, including the ground-breaking Polypropylene chair (1963), put modern British furniture design on the world map.

Hille Educational Products was incorporated in 2008 when the company was acquired by Brian Foster, who had been responsible for manufacturing much of Hille’s plastic seating from the 1970s onwards. The company has worked closely with the Foundation to re-launch the Polyside and Armchair in Robin’s distinguished grey, charcoal and flame colours, and with Robin’s elegant P5 side chair stacking frame. These British design classics are now made by a skilled and dedicated workforce at the Hille factory in Ebbw Vale, South Wales.

hille.co.uk

Robin Day Furniture Design Awards 2015

One hundred schools have been presented with copies of Modern British Furniture: Design since 1945 to award to their best GCSE Design and Technology students. The Robin Day Furniture Design Awards scheme was set up in association with the Furniture Makers’ Company.

Johnny Westbrooke, Chief Executive of the Furniture Makers’ Company said: “We were honoured that the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation chose to mark what would have been renowned furniture designer Robin Day’s 100th birthday with 100 prizes for school children."

Prize-winners included Zac Hebditch, aged 16, The Castle School, Taunton.

furnituremakers.org.uk

Robin and Lucienne Day Prize winner

The Robin and Lucienne Day Prize for Ethical and Sustainable Design 2015 was awarded to Lucy Rainbow, a second-year Printed Textiles student at the Royal College of Art, London. The winner was jointly chosen by the Rector of the RCA and the Chair of the Foundation.

Lucy Rainbow showed prints for nurses’ uniforms on sustainable fabrics such as hemp, designed to bring life-enhancing contact with nature to hospital patients and staff. She said:"I am beyond grateful to The Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation for their support and encouragement, which has served to strengthen my resolve to continue with my design project."

rca.ac.uk

Lucy Rainbow follows in the footsteps of Lucienne Day, who put on her Diploma Show in Printed Textiles at RCA in 1940.

The Foundation held its official launch at the Royal College of Art on May 6th.

Dr. Paul Thompson (RCA Rector), Jeremy Myerson (Helen Hamlyn Professor of Design) and Paula Day (Foundation Chair) spoke to an invited audience of over a hundred people including Robin and Lucienne’s family, friends, staff and fellow RDIs. The design industry, design education, design museums and archives were represented. The Foundation’s Licensees, professional advisers, Trustees and Patrons all attended the event, which was organised by Mary Mullin, one of the Trustees.

Paula Day announced the Foundation’s first Awards and presented to the Rector the Robin and Lucienne Day Prize for Ethical and Sustainable Design 2015

A drinks reception was held in the Senior Common Room. The Foundation's Patrons, Trustees and professional advisers were photographed with the Rector in front of the silk mosaic given to the College by Lucienne Day.

Robin and Lucienne Day Prize 2015

The Robin and Lucienne Day Prize for Ethical and Sustainable Design 2015 will be awarded to the Royal College of Art final year student who, in the judgement of the Rector and the Chair of the Foundation, has realised the design which best embodies Robin and Lucienne Day’s commitment to socially responsible and sustainable design.

Robin Day Furniture Design Awards

To celebrate Robin’s centenary, the Foundation is collaborating with the Furniture Makers’ Company to give 100 state schools a Robin Day Furniture Design Award certificate and a copy of Modern British Furniture to present to their best GCSE Design and Technology student.

Modern British Furniture: Design since 1945 by Lesley Jackson (V&A Publishing) includes two chapters on Robin Day and Hille.

www.furnituremakers.org.uk
www.vandashop.com

Robin Day 100 Designs poster

Guests at the Launch were presented with a copy of Robin Day 100 Designs. The poster, designed by Studio Fernando Gutierrez and featuring design images and portraits from the Foundation’s archive, is now available from twentytwentyone and other selected outlets.

www.twentytwentyone.com

Foundation leaflet

A year after launching its website, the Foundation has produced a leaflet displaying design images and portraits alongside a brief account of the careers of Robin and Lucienne Day and the work of the Foundation.

www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

Case 675 awarded Design Guild Mark

More than sixty years after it was designed, Robin Day’s 675 chair (1952), now available in Case Furniture’s licensed and endorsed new production, has been awarded a Design Guild Mark by the Furniture Makers’ Company.

The Mark, announced at the Farmiloe Building, Clerkenwell, London on May 19th, was awarded ‘for excellence in design in the British Furniture Industry 2015’.

www.casefurniture.co.uk
www.furnituremakers.org.uk

twentytwentyone Reclining chair edition

Design retailer twentytwentyone is celebrating Robin Day’s centenary with a special edition of Robin’s Reclining chair (1952). Ten of the country’s foremost designers including Margaret Howell CBE and Sir Kenneth Grange have paid tribute by selecting contemporary upholstery fabrics to complement the historic design.

The edition will be launched at twentytwentyone's showroom and available to order from July 1st.

www.twentytwentyone.com

Day in London

The London Design Festival 2015 will celebrate Robin Day’s centenary with a ‘Day in London’ cultural trail. The trail will link a major LDF exhibit at the V&A Museum with displays at the Royal Festival Hall and the Design Museum to highlight different aspects of Robin’s work.

The London Design Festival, the country's biggest annual design event, will run from September 19th - 27th. As well as the LDF’s major exhibits at the V&A, the programme includes hundreds of shows put on by partner organisations across London.

www.londondesignfestival.com

Robin Day at V&A Museum

The London Design Festival’s Robin Day Centenary exhibit will be on view at the V&A, the world’s greatest museum of decorative art and design, from September 19th onwards.

The installation, curated by Jane Withers and designed by Assemble, will explore Robin’s lifelong love of wood.

www.londondesignfestival.com
www.janewithers.com
www.assemblestudio.co.uk

Robin Day at Royal Festival Hall

The Royal Festival Hall will celebrate Robin Day’s centenary with an exhibit about Robin’s seating for the building, which opened for the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Robin designed all the original furniture, from the orchestra, dining and lounge chairs to the auditorium seating, which is still in use today.

www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Robin Day at Design Museum

The Design Museum will celebrate Robin Day’s centenary with a display of items from his studio which illustrate his working practise, with particular reference to the Polypropylene chair (1963).

In 2013 the Foundation donated the entire contents of Robin’s last studio to the Design Museum.

www.designmuseum.org

The Foundation's official Launch will take place in May at the Royal College of Art, London.

Robin and Lucienne, who both studied at the RCA, first met at a College dance in spring 1940.

The Launch is timed to honour the centenary of Robin Day's birth. Robin was born in High Wycombe in May 1915, a hundred years ago this year.

www.rca.ac.uk

Foundation appoints PR consultants

Caro Communications will be supporting the Foundation’s launch and Robin Day centenary celebrations this year.

Caro specialises in PR for architects and designers.

www.carocommunications.com

Robin Day Photograph Archive

The Foundation’s collection of historic Robin Day design photographs has been accessioned and catalogued by archivist Wilhelmina Baldwin and photographed at the Foundation’s office by Gwen Riley-Jones of the Centre for Heritage Imaging and Collection Care, The University of Manchester Library.

Over 1,300 Robin Day design images and over 250 portrait photographs of the Days have so far been digitised.

www.boundbook.co.uk
www.manchester.ac.uk

Robin Day 100 Designs poster

The Foundation is producing a unique celebratory poster for Robin Day’s centenary. The poster, designed by Fernando Gutiérrez, will feature design images and portraits from the Foundation’s Robin Day Photograph Archive.

Foundation’s graphic designer made RDI

Fernando Gutiérrez, who looks after all the Foundation’s graphics, has been appointed Royal Designer for Industry (RDI).

The RDI is the UK’s highest professional accolade for designers across all disciplines. Fernando was one of only four new RDIs appointed in 2014.

Robin and Lucienne Day were the first married couple both to hold the title (Robin was appointed in 1959 and Lucienne in 1962). In 1987 Lucienne became the first woman Master of the Faculty of RDIs.

www.fernandogutierrez.co.uk
www.thersa.org

Robin Day 675 chair at The Home

Case Furniture’s authentic new production of Robin Day’s 675 chair is now available in an exclusive version with oak finish arms and black frame from The Home, Salts Mill.

The Home, an independent retailer specialising in licensed furniture design classics, is situated in the same building as the David Hockney gallery, a converted mill in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Saltaire, West Yorkshire.

www.casefurniture.co.uk
www.thehomeonline.co.uk

Lucienne Day dress prints

The six dress fabrics designed in 1954 by Lucienne Day for John Lewis company Cavendish are still available in the Haberdashery departments of some John Lewis stores.

The six designs, available in multiple original colourways, are all printed on 100% cotton.

Until January 11th 2015
Anarchy and Beauty: William Morris and his Legacy, 1860 – 1960
The National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London WC2H 0HE

Classic Textiles’ licensed digital reprint of Lucienne Day’s Festival of Britain design Calyx (1951) is on display as part of an exhibition about the legacy of William Morris. The exhibition’s curator Fiona MacCarthy, Patron of the Foundation, wrote in her obituary of Lucienne Day:

The reality of ‘art for the people’, dreamed about by the Victorian William Morris, was finally achieved by a female designer in the middle of the 20th century.
(The Guardian, February 3rd 2010).

www.npg.org.uk
www.classictextiles.com

Case launches Robin Day 675 Chair

Case Furniture has launched an endorsed new production of the classic 675 dining chair, designed by Robin Day in 1952. An example of the original production was the basis for development work carried out in consultation with the Foundation and with close attention to authentic detailing. The 675 Chair is available from John Lewis or direct from Case.

www.casefurniture.co.uk
www.johnlewis.com

Design: Managing the Legacy

Paula Day spoke about the Foundation’s work to protect her parents’ design legacies at a London Design Festival event held at the V&A on September 16th. Design historian Charlotte Fiell drew the wider picture and Paul Newman of Case Furniture described his company’s collaboration with the Foundation on their new production of Robin’s 675 Chair.

Dezeen online magazine carried a follow-up interview with Paula Day.

www.dezeen.com

Foundation Endorsement Policies

The Foundation has now developed Robin Day and Lucienne Day Endorsement Policies. These set out the Foundation’s criteria for Endorsement of products as high-quality authentic productions of original Robin or Lucienne Day designs. The Endorsement Policies are available to view on request from the Foundation.

enquiries@robinandluciennedayfoundation.org

Foundation appoints Furniture Technician

The Foundation has appointed industrial designer Amos Marchant as Furniture Technician. Amos, who worked with twentytwentyone on Robin Day’s Avian range, will be responsible for examining and recommending new productions of Robin’s designs to the Trustees for Endorsement.

www.amosmarchant.com

At Home with the Days result

The At Home with the Days online auction of items from the Days’ homes raised over £33,000.

The auction was generously curated and hosted by design retailer twentytwentyone. All proceeds will help to fund the Foundation’s educational work, specifically the creation of a Robin and Lucienne Day digital archive.

www.twentytwentyone.com

Foundation appoints Digital Archivist

The Foundation has appointed website designer and archivist Wilhelmina Baldwin to digitise the Robin and Lucienne Day photographic archive. The archive will be a unique educational resource and facilitate the supply of images to design journalists, writers, and curators.

www.boundbook.co.uk

Foundation appoints Design Historian

The Foundation’s photographic archive will be supported by input from design historian Lesley Jackson. Lesley’s book Robin and Lucienne Day: Pioneers of Contemporary Design (Mitchell Beazley, new edition 2011) is the definitive work on the Days’ design careers.

www.octopusbooks.co.uk

Textile Society Lucienne Day Award

This year’s Textile Society Lucienne Day Award has been presented to Rachel Howarth, a graduate of Heriot-Watt University’s Design for Textiles BA.

The Textile Society is an educational charity which promotes the study of textile disciplines and celebrates the history and culture of textiles, both traditional and contemporary. Lucienne Day was the Society’s first Honorary President, a position she held from 1992 – 2002.

www.textilesociety.org.uk

Lucienne Day trademark registrations

With the growing interest in Lucienne’s work, it is essential that the Foundation can ensure that her name is used worldwide to sell only products made to her actual designs. LUCIENNE DAY is now a registered international trademark across ten product categories.

All companies currently marketing licensed and endorsed Lucienne Day products are listed on the Licensees pages of this website

www.classictextiles.com

www.twentytwentyone.com

www.johnlewis.com

September 17th to 21st
Twentytwentyone showroom,
18c River Street, London EC1R

Design retailer twentytwentyone is hosting an exhibition and online auction of items from the Days’ own homes, including china and silk mosaics by Lucienne, and one-off furniture and prototypes by Robin. This is a unique opportunity to learn more about the Days’ home lives and acquire pieces with special provenance. 

Twentytwentyone has worked closely with the Foundation for over a year on the conception and development of the sale. The company has generously undertaken to curate, photograph and catalogue the objects, as well as hosting the exhibition and managing the online auction. All proceeds will benefit the Foundation, helping to fund the creation of a Robin and Lucienne Day digital archive. 

www.twentytwentyone.com

Modern Originals

The Days’ Chichester house is featured in Leslie Williamson’s new book about the homes of celebrated 20th century European designers. Twenty-two photographs of the interiors accompany an account of Leslie’s visit to the house. The homes of Le Corbusier, Finn Juhl and Alvar Aalto are among those covered in other chapters.

Leslie Williamson is a San Francisco-based photographer best known for her interior portraiture.

www.rizzoliusa.com

The Collections Lab

September 11th onwards
Design Museum,  
28 Shad Thames, London SE1 2YD

Robin Day’s own drawing board and implements will be on show at the Design Museum as part of an exhibition devised to illustrate the design process. The display, focused particularly on Robin’s ground-breaking 1963 Polypropylene Chair, will be accompanied by recordings of Robin’s daughter Paula and his draughtsman John Simmons talking about how he worked.

In 2013 the Foundation donated the entire contents of Robin’s studio to the Design Museum (with the exception of his technical drawings which are archived at the V&A). 

www.designmuseum.org

Lucienne Day at John Lewis

The John Lewis 150 Years fashion range made from Lucienne’s 1954 dress fabric designs has been described by Andy Street, John Lewis Managing Director, as ‘a triumph’. He went on to say: The collaboration with the Day Foundation has played a key part in making this celebratory year a success.

The fashions, launched in May, sold out within a few weeks. The six dress fabrics will continue to be available from John Lewis haberdashery departments nationwide.

John Lewis is now bringing out a range of cushions using furnishing fabrics (Halloween, Panama and Lucienne) designed by Lucienne for the company in the 1970s.

www.johnlewis.com

John Lewis: How We Live Today

September 8th – 11th
Design Museum,  
28 Shad Thames, London SE1 2YD 

The new Lucienne Day cushions will feature in an exhibition held at the Design Museum to mark John Lewis’ 150th anniversary.  

www.designmuseum.org

John Lewis at Design Junction

September 18th – 21st
The Sorting Office,
21 -31 New Oxford Street, London.WC1A 1BA 

John Lewis will be taking part in Design Junction for the first time this year, with a stand featuring the new Lucienne Day cushion range. 

www.thedesignjunction.co.uk

Tricorne tray relaunch

Twentytwentyone relaunched the Robin Day Tricorne tray in June 2014. 

The plywood tray (named after the three-cornered ‘tricorne’ hat), was designed in 1955 as a small cocktail tray. In 2006 Robin collaborated with twentytwentyone on a scaled-up version. This product has now been re-launched, and is shown below on the Days’ own coffee table (Lot 2 in ‘At Home with the Days’ selling exhibition and online auction).

www.twentytwentyone.com

The new website, designed by Studio Fernando Gutiérrez, presents a visual timeline of Robin and Lucienne’s work, with design history by Lesley Jackson.

It provides the definitive online resource for accurate information about Robin and Lucienne Day’s lives and design careers, as well as news about the Foundation and its licensees.

The Foundation’s Logo, designed by Studio Fernando Gutiérrez, is closely based on Robin and Lucienne’s own letterheads.

Robin and Lucienne’s contribution to John Lewis as Design Consultants from 1962–1987 is being celebrated as part of the company’s 150 Years, launched on May 1st.

All John Lewis staff are receiving a copy of A Very British Revolution: 150 Years of John Lewis, which includes a chapter on the Days. 

John Lewis is launching a Lucienne Day fashion range. The fashion, inspired by garments from Lucienne’s own personal wardrobe, is made up in new productions of two of her 1954 dress fabric designs for John Lewis firm Cavendish Textiles.

A wider choice of Lucienne’s Cavendish dress fabrics in multiple colourways is also available. Three of the furnishing fabrics she designed for Cavendish in the 1970s, including a striking geometric pattern simply called ‘Lucienne’, may be purchased by the length.

The range is based on scrupulously careful research carried out in the John Lewis textile archives and the Whitworth Art Gallery by Emma Christmas, who co-ordinated the John Lewis design teams’ development work in close consultation with the Foundation.

www.johnlewis.com

A special screening of Design Onscreen’s documentary film Contemporary Days: The Designs of Lucienne and Robin Day was held on April 29th at The New York Museum of Modern Art, at the request of MOMA’s Curator of Historical Design. The film offers a vivid and thoughtful account of the Days’ design careers.

Design Onscreen is a Denver-based non-profit foundation dedicated to producing high-quality films on architecture and design. 

www.designonscreen.org

Lucienne Day: In the Spirit of the Age by Andrew Casey was published by Antique Collectors’ Club Editions. The book, with a foreword by Paula Day, is lavishly illustrated with portrait photographs from the Foundation’s own archive, and full-page images of Lucienne’s work in multiple colourways.

www.antiquecollectorsclub.com

With the growing international interest in Robin and Lucienne Day’s work, it is essential that the Foundation can ensure that their famous names are used worldwide only with products made to their actual designs. This newly registered ROBIN DAY trademark extends protection to the United States.

Classic Textiles has moved to new premises. The twelve Lucienne Day textile designs will now be printed in the Reid building, immediately opposite Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s world famous Glasgow School of Art.

Classic Textiles was set up by the Centre for Advanced Textiles, a research, education and commercial department within Glasgow School of Art, to pioneer high-quality digital productions of great 20th century textile designs. The Classic Textiles 2003 Lucienne Day range of furnishing fabrics is unique as it was developed in consultation with Lucienne herself. New state-of-the-art digital equipment has been installed in the printworks, which will allow for a much increased volume of production.

www.classictextiles.com

Twentytwentyone has added another design to their licensed range of Lucienne Day tea towels. Black Leaf (1959) won a Design Centre Award in 1960. The new twentytwentyone production is available in Lucienne’s yellow colourway, and, like the Thomas Somerset original, it is printed on 100% Irish linen.

www.twentytwentyone.com

An auction of those Robin Day furniture pieces and Lucienne Day silk mosaics which could not be accommodated by public collections was held at Christie's, St James, London on October 30th. Several items (including two Forum sofas, designed by Robin Day for Hille in 1964), beautifully displayed in the sale rooms alongside other highly valued works of international 20th century decorative art and design, achieved purchase bids well above the guide prices.

Robin and Lucienne Day’s last home, an historic town house just opposite Chichester cathedral, was sold to benefit the Foundation.

Furniture and furnishings used in the Days’ home and records from their office and studio were donated to a number of museums and educational institutions.

Design Museum:
The Days’ complete art and design library
Complete interior of Robin’s ‘studio shed’

V&A Robin and Lucienne Day Archives:
All Robin Day’s technical drawings
Lucienne Day designs on paper
The Days’ press cuttings book
Magazine articles about the Days

V&A Museum Collections:
Robin Day 658 Lounge Chair
Robin Day upholstered Polypropylene Armchair
Lucienne Day Rosenthal plates
Lucienne Day table cloths and tea towels

Geffrye Museum of the Home:
Robin Day Television Chair 
Cushions covered with Lucienne’s designs

Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester:
Silk mosaic Golden Tangram by Lucienne Day

Glasgow School of Art:
Silk mosaic Tangram (006) by Lucienne Day

RDI archive at The Royal Society of Arts:
Silk mosaic The Castle and Other Stories by Lucienne Day

Photographs from World of Interiors June 2011 by Antony Crolla © World of Interiors.