Robin day was a great British furniture designer who is said to have been very significant due to the fact that he was the inventor of the Polypropylene chairs that are used everyday within school and college classrooms. He was born on May 25, 1915, but died on November 9, 2010. Along with being a furniture designer, he was also known for being an industrial design and and interiors.
Robin made these chairs originally as stacking chairs but has been adapted for different places such as airports and stadiums. These chairs have been so iconic that the Royal Mail allowed it to make an appearance on a postage stamp in 2009 and this was to celebrate the 'British Design Classics'. Robin used to make the chairs out polypropylene rather than the usual use of glass fibre-reinforced polyester due to the fact that it was a tougher, more durable material than any other plastic, cheaper than plywood and it was easier to shape. The design of the chair was simple yet very effective in its ergonomic qualities.
Robin day did not initially start of making the stacking chairs out of polypropylene. His first mass production of the stacking chairs was for S. Hille & Co. and these chairs were made from beach plywood and a solid beech frame. Due to the fact that being the genius he was, he thought of ways to try and make the production of chairs cheaper for the company so that way they would still be getting as much money but spending less money on probably just as good a quality as the beach plywood.
The thing I really like about Robin Day's stacking chairs is the fact that he thought outside the box which allowed him to create a chair which would be in mass production and not only was his chair a popular choice of chair back then but it still is today within many institutions like schools and colleges.
I chose to look at this particular artist due to the fact that I felt that he is probably the most ground breaking chair designer that has lived so far although his idea was so simple.
