Robin Day (1915-2010), trained at the Royal College of Art in the 1930s. He was a furniture designer, best known for his innovative design of the Polyprop Chair in 1963, although this was not his only recognised design. The Polyprop Chair was manufactured from polypropylene, through injection moulding. The design became a trend setter for cheap, quality, mass manufactured, stackable chairs.
In 1950, Robin Day designed the Hillestak chair, which was composed of a moulded plywood seat and separate back, secured within a beech ‘A’ frame. This stackable chair was relatively cheap and stylish. Like many of his designs, the use of materials was minimise, due partly to the austerity of the post war years and demands of modernism. It also broke away from traditional designs of the time.
In 1951 at the Festival of Britain, Robin Day introduced furniture he had designed, made from a combination of steel and plywood. One of these designs was the Lounge Armchair, constructed from innovative materials such as plywood, which had seen increased use during the Second World War. He was eager to design modern furniture, which was undoubtably influenced by Modernism (including Bauhaus). It should be remembered, that this style of chair with its plywood technology, came before the famous Ray and Charles Eames Chair of 1956.
Royal Festival Hall Lounge Armchair, 1951
