Lucienne Day

I went into industrial design because I wanted people to have good things at a reasonable price.
Lucienne Day
Textile designer Lucienne Day (1917 – 2010) graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1940, but her career breakthrough came with the launch of her pioneering contemporary textile 'Calyx', designed for the Festival of Britain in 1951, which embodied the energy and optimism of the postwar period. 

In the following two decades she produced more than 70 highly original textile designs for Heal Fabrics, as well as responding to commissions from numerous other companies in Britain and abroad. The V&A's Lucienne Day collection includes dress fabrics, furnishing fabrics, tea towels, wallpapers and carpets, as well as examples of the one-off 'silk mosaics' she designed during her second phase of creativity from the late 1970s onwards.

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Features

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Lucienne Day – an introduction

Of all the talented women textile designers of post-war Britain, Lucienne Day's influence is the most far-reaching

  1. Read

    Lucienne Day's silk mosaics

    Find out how textile designer Lucienne Day pioneered a new textile medium derived from traditional patchwork

Collection highlights

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  1. plate
    Four Seasons: Winter, plate, designed by Lucienne Day, manufactured by Rosenthal, 1958 – 9, England
    V&A South Kensington
    View by appointment
  2. hanging
    Flying in Blue, hanging, designed by Lucienne Day, 1985, UK
    V&A East Storehouse
    View by appointment
  3. furnishing fabric
    Foreshore, furnishing fabric, designed by Lucienne Day, made for Edinburgh Weavers, 1952, Carlisle, Scotland
    V&A East Storehouse
    View by appointment
  4. furnishing fabric
    Herb Antony, furnishing fabric, designed by Lucienne Day, manufactured by Heal & Son Ltd, 1956, England
    V&A East Storehouse
    View by appointment
  5. wallpaper
    Provence, wallpaper, designed by Lucienne Day, manufactured by John Line & Sons Ltd., 1951, England
    V&A South Kensington
    View by appointment
  6. furnishing fabric
    Sunrise, furnishing fabric, designed by Lucienne Day, made for Heal Fabrics Ltd., 1969, UK
    V&A East Storehouse
    View by appointment
  7. curtain
    (Detail) Hazy Daisy, curtain, designed by Lucienne Day, made for Heals, 1971, UK
    V&A East Storehouse
    View by appointment
  8. furnishing fabric
    Calyx, furnishing fabric, designed by Lucienne Day, made for Heal's, 1951, UK
    V&A East Storehouse
    View by appointment
  9. glass towel
    Bouquet Garni, glass towel, designed by Lucienne Day, manufactured by Thomas Somerset & Co., 1960, Ireland
    V&A East Storehouse
    View by appointment
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Header image:
Background image: Calyx, furnishing fabric, Lucienne Day, 1951, England. Museum no. T.161-1995. © Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation/Victoria and Albert Museum, London