LIVING ROOM SETTING AT THE MILAN TRIENNALE, ROBIN DAY, 1951, FEATURING DESIGNS BY ROBIN DAY AND LUCIENNE DAY.
Photography courtesy of THE ROBIN AND LUCIENNE DAY FOUNDATION, ALL IMAGES © ROBIN & LUCIENNE DAY FOUNDATION
FURNITURE DESIGNER ROBIN DAY GREW UP SURROUNDED BY Britain’s thriving furniture industry of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. He studied at High Wycombe School of Art and worked as a draftsman in a local furniture factory before winning a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London. Despite his education, he is considered to be mostly self-taught, as the RCA offered few courses in furniture design at the time. World War II broke out just a year after he finished his formal education, drastically limiting his work options but also dramatically influencing his design ethos.
Robin is quoted as saying, “Why should there always be new things? I mean, people’s bodies don’t change or the requirements for a chair supporting a human frame. I think there should be better things. You expect a bit of poetry as well as good function.”