Design Guild Mark Holder
Robin Day Polypropylene Armchair
Name of Designer:
Robin Day183
2017
Hille
Following on from the international success of the ground-breaking Polypropylene Side Chair which Robin Day had designed for British furniture company Hille in 1964, he developed a Polypropylene Armchair which would offer greater comfort in situations such as public waiting areas. The wider shell is strengthened by ribs on the underside, and by rolled edges which also serve to conceal the fixings when the chair is viewed from the front. Over the years a range of interchangeable bases were produced for a wide variety of applications, the A frame remaining the most popular for domestic and general use.
Robin Day (1915 – 2010) was one of the most significant British furniture designers of the twentieth century. His breakthrough came at the Festival of Britain in 1951, when his radical moulded plywood seating for the Royal Festival Hall introduced the British public to modern design for the first time. In the 1960s Robin Day and Hille pioneered the world’s first mass-produced Polypropylene Chair, a development which transformed the international furniture industry. Robin Day produced a prolific body of work in a career lasting nearly seven decades and his furniture continues to contribute to the quality of people’s lives in homes, schools, theatres and other public spaces all over the world.
