Both an exhibition designer and industrial designer, Robin Day attended art college in High Wycombe from 1930 until 1933 before receiving a scholarship for the Royal College of Art in London, where he studed from 1934 until 1938. In 1948 Robin Day and his wife, textile designer Lucienne Day, opened a design practice in London. That year, 1948, Robin Day took part in a design competition for inexpensive furniture hosted by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Robin Day collaborated with Clive Latimer on designing a storage system made of plywood, which won a first prize. This success made the furniture-maker Hille International aware of Robin Day and from 1949 Hille commissioned Robin Day to design low-priced furniture that could be manufactured on a large scale. In 1950 Robin Day also had a share in designing the Hille corporate image and in the years that followed he became head designer at Hille. In 1950 Robin Day designed "Hillestak", a chair with a beechwood frame and seat and back of laminated wood with walnut veneer. Robin Day designed a simple armchair as the seating for the Royal Festival Hall in London in 1951. In 1962/63 Robin Day designed the "Polyprop", chair, which reveals the inspiration of Charles and Ray Eames's "Plastic Shell" chairs. The polypropylene plastic seat is made by the injection molding process, the substructure is of bent steel tubing. Stackable, affordably priced, light, and extremely durable, the chair was available in all imaginable colors. In 1963 an upholstered "Polyprop" was launched, which was varied as the "Polo Chair" in 1975. This Robin Day chair was a top hit; more than 14 million have been sold.

The Designs of Robin Day