Robin Day Works in Wood
V&A Museum, 2015

We were invited by the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation to curate an exhibition celebrating Robin Day’s centenary. Seeking to move beyond the familiar trope of Day as designer of the polyprop chair and give a fresh perspective on his legacy, we focused on Day’s little explored but deep-rooted feeling for wood. The exhibition juxtaposed his finely tuned industrial designs with handmade objects made for his personal use that are characterised by a rudimentary directness, ingenuity and playfulness and had not been exhibited before. Architectural practice Assemble juxtaposed these elements in an installation inspired by the forest where Day grew up. The exhibition included Day’s drawings and writings to give a deeper understanding of his poetic attachment to nature.