The Sneaky Magpie

I am a great admirer of design, mid century modern in particular. So I decided to start posting bits about my favorite designers, architects and artists.

The first installment will be about the British answer to Charles and Ray Eames – Lucienne and Robin Day. Unlike the Eames, Robin and Lucienne Day did not design together, she did textiles and he did furniture. They trained before the WWII but only got to design properly after the war was over when rationing was in place and the furniture making was very challenging.

They both rose to fame during the Festival of Britain in 1951 and became design icons instantly.

Lucienne, who passed away earlier this year, excelled in textile design with abstract ebullient patterns inspired by modern artists like Joan Miro. Her fabrics are very vibrant, playful and still very much in fashion.

One of Lucienne’s most famous patterns: Calyx

Perpetua

Herb Antony fabric designed for Heals

More Heals fabrics

Her style still feels very fresh and cheerful, I wouldn’t mind a couple of cushions or curtains made with her fabrics in my apartment.

Robin Day created furniture for the South Bank’s Royal Festival Hall and for manufacturer Hille. His designs are light and elegant, his use of material is very clever making for functional affordable furniture (well, not anymore) and easy storage.

Armchair designed for the Royal Festival Hall

Stacking chairs for Hille

Room setting by Robin Day with textiles by Lucienne

I think a visit to V&A’s Study Rooms is in order to have a closer look at Lucienne’s creations.

Tags: Heals, Hille, Lucienne Day, Robin Day

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 9:38 am and is filed under Furniture, Textiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.