One of the most optimistic textile stories in postwar Britain is linked to the "Calyx" pattern. Designed by Lucienne Day (1917 – 2010) for Heal Fabrics, the pattern was created as a furniture fabric for a room in the Homes and Gardens Pavilion (designed by Lucienne's husband, Robin Day), part of the 1951 Festival of Britain. "Calyx" featured abstract organic prints in yellow, orange and black and went on to become a bestseller in the years that followed, winning Day a gold medal at the Milan Triennale in 1951 and the international design award of the American Institute of Decorators.
The Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester is at present celebrating the designer's birth centenary with an exhibition, "Lucienne Day: A Sense of Growth" (until 23rd July), curated by Jennifer Harris, former deputy director and head of textiles at The Whitworth (she also worked with Day on her 1993 retrospective), in collaboration with Lucienne's daughter Paula Day, chair of the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation.
Born Désirée Lucienne Conradi, the designer studied from 1937 to 1940 at the Royal College of Art where she also met her future husband, furniture designer Robin Day.
During the '50s Lucienne became one of the most commercially successful British textile designers in a time when industrial design was still a profession for men. She created around six designs per year for Heal's (in 1954, four of her Heal's fabrics won a Gran Premio at the Milan Triennale) while working at the same time for other British and European companies and producing patterns for textiles, wallpaper, carpets, tea towels, table linens and ceramics.
In the 1970s, Lucienne withdrew from industrial design, but focused on creating innovative interior design pieces. Commissioned to design a set of five shutter doors for the John Lewis store in Newcastle, she developed on graph paper colourful artworks that were then transformed into silk mosaic wall hangings.
The exhibition at Whitworth (the designer donated her textile archive to the gallery and the institution holds at the moment one of the world's largest Lucienne Day textiles collections) gives the chance to rediscover Day's works for Heal's and the strong art component behind her textiles.
Day would indeed borrow moods, colours and shapes from works of art such as Saul Steinberg's cartoons, Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miró and Paul Klee's paintings, Alexander Calder's mobiles and Naum Gabo's sculptures.
She also aimed at creating bold designs that could improve people's lives with their optimistic graphic styles, while, employing the figurative language of art in her pieces, she also offered the chance to those people who could not afford a painting to add to their houses an arty touch via interior design textiles, a concept that called to mind William Morris' art for the people message.
Day excelled not just in creating freshly innovative abstract prints like the ones for "Ticker Tape" (1953) and figurative patterns like "Spectators" (1953), but also in transforming flowers into geometrical shapes, tracing delicate wiry plants, seedpods, twigs, grasses and foliage in her patterns such as "Dandelion Clocks" (1953) and "Herb Antony" (1956), often characterised by surprisingly unusual combinations of colours.
Lucienne also had a lifelong passion for gardening and was a knowledgeable plantswoman. "My mother and I shared a passion for plants and gardens, so I'm moved that the Whitworth is hosting an exhibition celebrating that aspect of her life and work," states Paula Day in the official press release. "Her delight in plants is evident in so many of her textile designs - their quirky individual personalities, the majesty of trees and leaves, the decorative repeat patterns of flowers, and the 'sense of growth' that surges through her great design 'Calyx'."
The show at Whitworth is actually part of the gallery's GROW project to promote the benefits of engaging in horticultural activities to improve mental wellbeing and, during the months of the exhibition, there will be demonstrations and talks inspired by Lucienne Day's designs.
The Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation and the Textile Society are also collaborating on an Award for Lifetime Contribution to Lucienne Day Studies and the recipient of this prestigious award will be announced at The Textile Society's Antique Textiles Fair on 30th April at The Armitage Centre, Manchester. This occasion forms part of the nationwide programme of events to celebrate Lucienne Day's centenary year, but, hopefully, there will be more awards and exhibitions after the centenary as well that will inspire a younger generation of creative minds to follow the steps of this pioneering textile designer.
Image credits for this post
All images in this post copyright the Robin & Lucienne Day Foundation
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